On Tuesday afternoon, the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Health Care Organization addressed the topic of implementation of the Law on Minimum Wages in Health Care. They also discussed the prospects for amending this law or even the need to pass a new one.
At the moment, as both MZ and NFZ officials and the public admitted, although it is clear that the increases must be implemented, there are still no specifics. Thursday marks the deadline for the AOTMiT to submit recommendations to the Health Ministry on revising valuations - at the moment, only the option of funding only increases for full-time employees (PLN 9.1 billion per year) is known. This has certain consequences, because, as Krystyna Ptok, chairwoman of the All-Poland Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives, said, directors, not knowing what funds they will have at their disposal, have not decided to sign agreements. What's more, there have been signals of attempts to conclude agreements, stipulating that due raises may be received by employees at another time.
Józefa Szczurek-Zelazko, chairwoman of the subcommittee, tried to get information on whether the National Health Fund has the funds to finance the increases - to no avail. She heard the answer that since it is not known what amount will be needed, it is impossible to say whether the Fund has it. However, it is no secret (NFZ Vice President Jakub Szulc said this during a May meeting with county hospital directors) that the Fund will have to be supplied with a subsidy from the state budget, as it does not have a multi-billion dollar "tab" for the raises itself.
Referring to the thread of the minimum recommendation scenario, in which the Fund would transfer funds exclusively for salaries for full-time doctors, Grażyna Cebula-Kubat, chairwoman of the All-Poland Physicians' Trade Union, stressed that working on a contract is not always a doctor's choice, because especially for doctors finishing their specialization, directors themselves offer a B2B contract. She also cited the results of a survey conducted by the OZZL, which shows that a large proportion of doctors would even like to work under employment contracts, which give the doctor (and the patient) more security, even if contractual agreements are more financially attractive.
What about plans to amend the law? On June 10, the Health Ministry is scheduled to hold talks with the social side on this issue as part of the Tripartite Team for Health Care. Elzbieta Gelert, who chairs the subcommittee in which the civic bill to amend the law has been stuck for months, stressed that a decision should then be made on how the changes are to be processed: whether the law needs to be amended, or perhaps a new one will be created, taking into account the experience of the implementation of the current regulations and - at least in part - the demands of the medical community.
