“It’s cynicism and demagogy” – these are the words of politicians of the ruling Law and Justice party regarding the attempts of the opposition to link the budget for public media with an alleged reduction in the funds to treat cancer patients. The opposition has appealed to president Andrzej Duda to veto the bill allocating almost 2 billion zloty for the public media. Such accusations are the easier to make the more the public television doesn’t shy away from openly supporting the ruling party. However, the Law and Justice party spends 3 billion zloty more on oncology than its predecessors did in 2015.
The opposition has warned about the worsening state of public health care, growing queues for doctors and the closing of hospitals, and has appealed to the government for a quick increase in funding for health care. Łukasz Szumowski, the minister of health, in turn stated that the budget for oncology is quickly growing. Last year the National Health Fund received a record high contribution. By the beginning of February, the Polish government had adopted a National Oncology Strategy – a program introducing changes to curing cancer for the years 2020-2030 with a budget of 11 billion zloty. Minister Szumowski also added that it’s not the case of how much is going to be spent on oncology but how it is spent, and that it’s a matter for medical experts, not politicians who are often ruled by emotions. Nonetheless, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the subject of health care is going to be very important in the upcoming presidential elections.
“In 2020, we plan to spend 11 billion zloty on oncology. Of course, it doesn’t include funds for doctors of first contact who also deal with patients fighting cancer. As you can see, 11 billion zloty is 3 billion zloty more than in the year 2015″, stated the Minister of Health.
President Andrzej Duda has already received the bill allocating funds for public media and has now 21 days to decide whether to veto it, sign it, or forward it to the Constitutional Tribunal.