Health Minister Ewa Kopacz says Poles should not be afraid of government plans to privatise Polish hospitals, which will rectify the problem of financing medical services.
Ewa Kopacz (Civic Platform - PO) told Polish Radio Three Wednesday morning that if Polish hospitals were restructured into commercial companies, as planned by the government, the system of financing medical services would be more rational.
In the Health Minister’s view, the reform, bitterly opposed by opposition parties, would compel the National Health Fund to provide equal treatment of all Polish hospitals, whether private or public. She said that under the current arrangement, contracts and funds awarded to hospitals in Poland are often mismanaged.
On Tuesday press reports suggested that the government intended to sidestep the likely Presidential veto over any new legislation aimed at privatisation of Polish hospitals. Under the current provisions, a single decree by the Finance Ministry exempting hospitals from having to add 22 per cent VAT to their services could encourage local governments to restructure hospitals into independent enterprises, and President kaczynski would be powerless to block the move.
Chairman of the Law and Justice (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski called the government’s idea of ruling by decrees “unconstitutional” on Polish Radio One Wednesday morning. He said Civic Platform’s has previously expressed its contempt for the criminal code, the rules of the Polish Lower House and good parliamentary practices in general. (mj)