The government is taking a close look at doctors' salaries

For the past few days, the earnings of Dawid Kacprzyk, a 28-year-old doctor and Warsaw city council member, have been one of the hottest topics of discussion. How is it possible that a doctor, practically right after graduating from college and in the midst of his residency—which should take up most of his time —devotes approximately 330 hours a month to working in a hospital emergency department, while also reporting work at other healthcare facilities and engaging in social and political activities (district council)?

Doctors, including representatives of the medical self-governing body, view this as an isolated case that requires urgent clarification, including by the prosecutor’s office. Politicians, on the other hand, see it differently. “This illustrates a broader problem we’re facing,” said Donald Tusk, referring to Kacprzyk’s earnings (who was a member of the Civic Coalition until Monday) before a government meeting. “We must work together with the medical self-governing body and all stakeholders—and I mean we really must—to address this, and this is also in the interest of the doctors themselves, ladies and gentlemen.” “So that there isn’t this growing wave of suspicion and uncertainty about what the salaries look like, what they’re paid for, and whether they’re justified,” he added.

Tusk announced the adoption of a bill that will allow a government agency to determine who earns how much and where, in order to streamline the system and prevent—what I hope will be isolated—scandalous situations from occurring, the prime minister concluded.

Today, the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System collects data on medical staff salaries, but it only sees individual contracts—and it is well known that doctors (and others) work at multiple locations. Some sign only contract agreements, while others have a full-time position at their primary place of work and a contract or service agreement at other locations. In such cases, their total income is known only to the tax office. Therefore, although only about 1.5 percent of doctors have contracts exceeding 100,000 PLN, experts believe that this percentage—when contracts from various workplaces are added together—could actually be several, or even ten, times higher. Obtaining such data would therefore be an important element in the discussion regarding the possible introduction of a cap on maximum earnings in the public healthcare system.