Poland’s health minister has told parliament this morning that the situation in the health service needs intensive care.
“When we took power in Poland 12 weeks ago, we found out that the situation of the health service system was critical; we need to apply appropriate treatment,” health minister Ewa Kopacz (Civic Platform - PO) told the Polish parliament on Wednesday.
Minister Kopacz shared with parliament the situation in the public health sector, explaining that she wanted to present MPs with an “opening balance” of the public health service.
She said that as health minister, she intended to focus on three areas: the situation of patients, health system financing and health sector employees.
She stressed that the government felt responsible for implementation of necessary changes, but expected a dialogue with the opposition before coming to any final conclusions.
Ewa Kopacz quoted statistical data for 2007 that revealed, as she said, that nearly 87 per cent of the public spending on the health system was covered from the national insurance system, 9 per cent from the state budget and 4 per cent came from local authorities.
Medical staff have been protesting with strikes and other protests for around a year, pushing for more pay and better working conditions.(mj) (photo: Jakub Szymczuk)