“This conference will present to the public a project that […] will convince our society that it is worth changing something here. Otherwise, the crisis will continue— even vast sums of money will not be enough to bridge the gaps that have been created,” said Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Law and Justice (PiS), on Saturday.
Exactly two years after the swearing-in of Donald Tusk’s government, Law and Justice has prepared a critical assessment. The opposition is sounding the alarm over the healthcare system and raising questions about the government’s true intentions and the possibility of privatization.
“Two years of Tusk’s rule: cancelled procedures, longer queues to see doctors, hospitals drowning in debt. This is what ‘healing’ the system looks like under the December 13 coalition. Poles are paying the price for their lies,” the opposition argues.
On Saturday, PiS also organized a medical congress. The event was opened by party leader Jarosław Kaczyński.
“Thank you for attending this important meeting, which is part of a series of conferences on various topics that together make up the problem of Poland in 2025. The most painful and visible manifestation of the crisis we are facing in Poland today is precisely the healthcare system,” he began.
“We have many problems, and the first of them is a lack of funding. Healthcare is a powerful complex of institutions that operate within a certain social environment, and undertaking far-reaching changes is an endeavor that will always be entangled in various interests, the tensions and disputes associated with them, and everything that is connected with the current structure of our central and local government administration,” Kaczyński said.
He noted that while “public healthcare is criticized almost everywhere it exists—in almost every country we encounter various allegations,” “we should focus on our own problems.”
“In county towns, hospitals are often the largest employers. Proposals to close such hospitals also have an aspect related to the prospect of unemployment. Everything must be taken into account,” he said by way of example.
“I believe that this conference will present to society a project which—although it will certainly have its critics—will convince our society that it is worth changing something here. Otherwise, the crisis will continue; even huge sums of money will not be able to fill the gaps that have been created,” he announced, outlining the further course of the conference.
A Series of Assumptions
Stanisław Karczewski, a PiS senator, presented the main assumptions of the discussion and the planned reform.
“It is absolutely necessary to standardize the founding authority of hospitals. This is very difficult, but extremely necessary, because competition in recruiting staff is destructive. The best example is cities where two large hospitals operate under different founding authorities—there the competition is clearly visible, as is the use of favorable contracts. If there is a single founding authority for hospitals, facilities will not be closed; instead, there will be reconstruction and changes in how they operate, and hospitals will perform tasks in line with the medical needs of residents.”
“Complete separation of work in public healthcare from work in the private sector. This is how it functions in other countries, and they manage well. We must draw on examples from countries that have done something in healthcare and benefited from it. This is a very important and very controversial proposal, but what the president of the Supreme Medical Chamber said is very interesting and optimistic— that ‘the majority of doctors will move from the private segment to the public one.’ Very good. I am a strong supporter of separating these two areas, and I believe we will gain supporters in this regard.”
“Full digitalization is necessary.”
“We have a proposal—nurses have been fighting for this for a long time—that nurses should be entitled to a one-year health recovery leave. This is a very good investment, because nurses will be able to work longer.”
“Prevention is the foundation of our task. This is extremely important. With alarm, I see the growing number of children who are overweight, have diabetes, or suffer from mental disorders—this is the last call to take action. Funding is too low; in other countries, prevention is financed at the level of 4–5 percent, while in our case it is not even 2 percent of the total healthcare budget. This must be changed.”
“Sport should be the driving force behind prevention. We propose mass sport—there is no law on universal sport, and we want to introduce one. There is also a proposal for the Ministry of Sport to be moved under the Ministry of Health, precisely to exert influence [on public health] through sport, social activation, and making sport fashionable.”
“Prevention of mental health problems. We can take an example from Australia, which banned social media for those under 16. I am absolutely in favor of this.”
“We want to reverse the pyramid of healthcare services. The foundation cannot be hospitals; the foundation must be primary healthcare. Strengthening primary care and prevention is the main goal of our reform.”
“We will also discuss medicines, as well as the abolition or shortening of postgraduate internships for doctors. The minister of health must have a strong position in the government—this must be a person, or a group of people, with strong political standing. I propose that the minister hold the rank of deputy prime minister,” Karczewski added.