New minister to tackle Poland's healthcare crisis
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《英国医生杂志》
Doctors in Poland have welcomed the appointment on 15 July of Marek Balicki as the new health minister after the surprise resignation of his predecessor, Marian Czakanski, who had been in office for only one month.
Mr Balicki, a Social Democrat who briefly served as health minister at the beginning of 2003, faces an uphill task to win support for new legislation to reform the country抯 health service from the country抯 fragmented parliament by August.
"I think that Marek Balicki offers a ray of hope, but the issue is in the hands of a much greater number of individuals," Konstanty Radziwill, the head of the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, told Poland抯 English language newspaper Warsaw Voice.
Frequent changes in health ministers—there have been six shuffles since 2003—have aggravated the problems of reforming the country抯 chronically underfunded health services.
Although all political parties agree that more money is needed to tackle the problem of long waiting lists for surgery and low wages of doctors and nurses, the government is struggling with a rising budget deficit that could reach 7% of the gross domestic product this year.
As a result of strained government finances, the health budget has risen by only 0.25%—well below the rate of inflation—in the past few years.
Government plans to tap new sources of money by expanding the role of employees?health insurance associations received a setback at the beginning of 2004 when the country抯 highest court ruled that the proposals breached the constitutional rights of citizens to free and universal access to health care.
With unemployment at 20% and high levels of poverty, the Polish population would find it difficult to make extra contributions to the health service.
Mr Balicki is now trying to identify key treatments that would continue to be free without exceeding the state budget. Under the new legislation, patients will have to pay for some treatments.
Also, the government plans to further decentralise the administration of the health service.
Mariusz Forys, spokesman for the Medical University of Warsaw told the BMJ that the plans were a step in the right direction but that a much more radical reform was needed to tackle the health sector抯 deep rooted problems.
He said that the pay and working conditions of doctors employed by the country抯 university hospitals were improving slowly and that some doctors who had travelled abroad were returning.
"Many doctors went abroad without really knowing the situation that they were going to, and some have been disappointed," he said. "Adapting to a new country is always difficult."(Vienna Jane Burgermeister)
Mr Balicki, a Social Democrat who briefly served as health minister at the beginning of 2003, faces an uphill task to win support for new legislation to reform the country抯 health service from the country抯 fragmented parliament by August.
"I think that Marek Balicki offers a ray of hope, but the issue is in the hands of a much greater number of individuals," Konstanty Radziwill, the head of the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, told Poland抯 English language newspaper Warsaw Voice.
Frequent changes in health ministers—there have been six shuffles since 2003—have aggravated the problems of reforming the country抯 chronically underfunded health services.
Although all political parties agree that more money is needed to tackle the problem of long waiting lists for surgery and low wages of doctors and nurses, the government is struggling with a rising budget deficit that could reach 7% of the gross domestic product this year.
As a result of strained government finances, the health budget has risen by only 0.25%—well below the rate of inflation—in the past few years.
Government plans to tap new sources of money by expanding the role of employees?health insurance associations received a setback at the beginning of 2004 when the country抯 highest court ruled that the proposals breached the constitutional rights of citizens to free and universal access to health care.
With unemployment at 20% and high levels of poverty, the Polish population would find it difficult to make extra contributions to the health service.
Mr Balicki is now trying to identify key treatments that would continue to be free without exceeding the state budget. Under the new legislation, patients will have to pay for some treatments.
Also, the government plans to further decentralise the administration of the health service.
Mariusz Forys, spokesman for the Medical University of Warsaw told the BMJ that the plans were a step in the right direction but that a much more radical reform was needed to tackle the health sector抯 deep rooted problems.
He said that the pay and working conditions of doctors employed by the country抯 university hospitals were improving slowly and that some doctors who had travelled abroad were returning.
"Many doctors went abroad without really knowing the situation that they were going to, and some have been disappointed," he said. "Adapting to a new country is always difficult."(Vienna Jane Burgermeister)