We already have 39 universities and 8,000 places in medical studies. There are doubts about the quality of education and the lowering of criteria

Deputies discussed the operation of medical faculties launched between 2015 and 2023, but the focus was mainly on 2022-2023, when as many as seventeen schools received permits - often against the negative opinion of the PKA. To make this possible, the criteria were lowered several times, amending the Higher Education Law, despite loud protests from the medical self-government and medical trade union organizations. The ministers of health and science in Mateusz Morawiecki's government, commenting on these protests, claimed that doctors were defending their "corporate interests." The doctors retorted that they were defending patient safety, which is threatened by the degradation of the education system.

- An analysis prepared by the MZ Department of Analysis and Strategy shows that the global number of doctors is not the biggest problem. The problem is their distribution and the specialties they practice. The generation gap is also a problem. Older-aged medics predominate, middle-aged medics are scarce, and doctors of the younger generation are only now arriving. For this reason, the debate on the future of universities, whether to open new faculties or not, should be conducted around this thread of how many doctors we really need," Deputy Minister Urszula Demkow said during a meeting of the Health Committee.

Demkow added that the problem is both the questionable quality of education offered by the new medical faculties and the lowering of criteria for applicants. Despite the fact that it was not difficult to get into medical studies this year, there were nearly 450 unfilled spots.

The authorization to conduct medical courses is currently held by 39 universities, of which 29 are public universities and 10 are private universities. 7 universities have the status of vocational universities, 32 are academic universities. Three more universities are in the review process - they have received a negative opinion from the Polish Accreditation Commission (PKA) and a negative opinion from the Minister of Education and Science (now the Minister of Science and Higher Education), all of which have applied for reconsideration.

Currently, 11 universities do not have PKA accreditation. - If all 11 universities without accreditation were closed, space would have to be found for seven hundred students. The Conference of Rectors of Academic Medical Universities is eager to manage those who have already completed at least one year of study. The matter must be resolved as soon as possible. The audit should be completed in about two months," the deputy health minister announced.

Marcelina Zawisza (Left) pointed out that both the medical self-government and residents have been scoring weaknesses in the universities that train future doctors. - The Residents' Agreement is particularly active in reporting these irregularities. We need to carefully check whether the graduates of the new universities that will soon begin to appear on the market will be well-educated doctors," she said. - A huge mess has been created in the medical education system. This will certainly reflect negatively on the environment. I fear that the phrase "neo-doctor" will soon be coined," added Krzysztof Bojarski (KO).

- I would like to know from the Minister what LEK results are obtained by graduates of, for example, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, University of Reszów, where medical education was launched in 2015. How do they compare with longer-established universities. Now you are prejudging in advance that these universities educate badly, do not have adequate staff, adequate clinical facilities, equipment. In order to be able to say this definitively, we need follow-up accreditation visits. I know that the Ministry of Science is just planning to conduct such visits. Do we already have evidence that those universities that have been approved for education since last year are indeed not up to standards? - Jozefa-Szczurek-Zelazko (Law and Justice), former Deputy Health Minister, asked instead. Krystyna Skowronska (KO), an MP from Podkarpacie, reminded, however, that when Rzeszow University was admitted in 2015 to the group of universities running a medical faculty, it met all the requirements set by law.

Committee chairman Bartosz Arlukowicz (KO) asked the chairman of the Polish Accreditation Commission, Prof. Janusz Uriasz, who was present at the meeting, about the reasons for not granting accreditation to universities that were nevertheless allowed, based on the then Minister of Science Przemyslaw Chernk, to start training doctors. - This is a whole spectrum of specific allegations. From the incompatibility of the proposal to create a medical direction with the university's mission, through its lack of strategy, lack of experience. This direction, must be linked to scientific research, and the universities had no experience in this area. On top of that, there are significant deficiencies in infrastructure," he enumerated. Prof. Uriasz also pointed out the systemic consequences of what happened in the last two years. - The independence of the Polish Accreditation Commission was clearly undermined. PKA is a member of a number of European bodies, including the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) of accrediting bodies, through which its member countries recognize each other's accreditations. As a result, diplomas from all Polish universities, not just medical faculties, are automatically recognized in the European Union. If PKA's independence is undermined, we could be removed from EQUAR. Consequently, all Polish diplomas can be undermined," he said.

According to Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Maria Ms. Mrowczynska, the audit, which is just beginning at medical training universities, is expected to be completed in May. Until May, the science ministry will not discuss the limit of places at medical universities, as the results of the audit will be an important element in these decisions.