The Minister of Health, Łukasz Szumowski, has unexpectedly announced his resignation this afternoon. Szumowski informed that this decision was made a few months ago, and was to make an announcement after the fulfillment of a gentleman’s agreement with the Polish President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, and the chairman of the Law and Justice Party, Jarosław Kaczyński. “I am returning to my profession, I would like to treat patients.” These were the words spoken during the farewell press conference.
“Today I am resigning from my post as Minister of Health. And just to preempt any comments and questions from the journalists, I am not going to disappear, nor go away. I am remaining on the post of Member of the Polish Parliament, I am staying in the public eye, I will serve in the capacity of some public post. Of course I am returning to my profession, to my original trained capacity as a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist. I am returning to the clinic to treat patients. Truthfully, the talks about my resignation have already been taking place for a few months. I had a gentleman agreement with the Prime Minister and with the chairman of the Law and Justice party that I will first finish a few projects which are important for Poland. My decision is the result of all those reasons I have mentioned: personal ones, as well as professional ones. I had certain commitments with deadlines until around more or less February 2020 and the pandemic erupted. I did remain on my post a half a year longer of course, but I am returning to my profession and this specific date was in the works more or less for the last week, or two. For me, for the Prime Minister, for the Mr Chairman and for the President, this is no surprise”, stated Łukasz Szumowski.
When asked by journalists why he decided to resign now, and not during the planned changes in the government in the near future, the former Minister responded by saying: “Well, it is hard for me to guess when and how the earlier announced cabinet changes will look like. This is a decision made by the governing coalition and the talks are still pending.”