Doctors' salaries at a glance. Lawmakers Support Salary Oversight

The Health Committee on Wednesday, the Sejm on Thursday afternoon. Perhaps even during that session, lawmakers will pass—without much debate—a bill that will grant AOTMiT the authority to aggregate contracts “by PESEL number.” During the first reading in the Health Committee, there was cross-party consensus: if any reservations were voiced, they were mainly that the bill is insufficient, as it will provide material for analysis but does not even outline the next step that should result from it —in the opinion of the lawmakers—namely, the introduction of salary caps for doctors in the public system.

Members of Parliament also strongly emphasized the need to regulate doctors’ working hours. The government’s bill, which is moving through the Sejm on a fast track, is a result of the scandal surrounding the employment and salary of Dawid Kacprzyk—who was 28 at the time—a doctor without a specialty who had just completed his postgraduate internship. Both this fact and the number of hours reported by the hospital (over 330 per month) raise serious doubts. A preliminary audit revealed that the doctor was sometimes absent from the shifts he was scheduled to work, which served as the basis for terminating his contracts (and will also be the subject of further proceedings), but the problem is systemic. “Doctors cannot work this much because it is not safe for patients,” the lawmakers emphasized during the discussion. They also pointed out that the National Health Fund (NFZ) should have tools to monitor working hours—to prevent situations where someone is listed as working at two places at the same time.

There were also calls for broader systemic changes—for example, lowering the staffing requirements imposed on hospitals, which drive up labor costs without necessarily translating into better quality of healthcare services.

The second reading of the bill’s amendment will take place on Thursday afternoon. Although doctors oppose the proposed measures and criticize the provisions primarily due to concerns about the security of personal data, it appears they will not be able to block this change, and President Karol Nawrocki will not grant a potential request for a veto.