Coalition hospitals divided

The twists and turns on the amendment to the law on benefits are not something we are unaccustomed to. Even the fact that the first reading took place in the Health Committee almost simultaneously with Prime Minister Donald Tusk's announcement that the author of the reform was saying goodbye to her post was no longer impressive. Admittedly, one might have wondered whether the Sejm should really adopt a law on which the new head of the health ministry had not had time to speak, but it seemed that the concepts of "should" and "should not" were completely foreign to politics.

On Friday, without any delays, the Sejm began its session with the second reading of the hospital bill, with Jerzy Szafranowicz, one of the deputy ministers who are certain to be dismissed, sitting on the government benches (in fact, only Katarzyna Kacperczyk may remain in the health ministry from the "old" team, and even that is not entirely a foregone conclusion). The speeches of MPs from the Civic Coalition and Law and Justice were painfully predictable: KO "for", Law and Justice - seemingly not against, as Katarzyna Sójka announced her lack of support rather than voting against, but no doubt very critical. The debate took a turn when Joanna Wicha (Left) took the stand and announced that her club would not support the bill either. - There are elements in this law that we recognize as a step in the right direction. At the same time, too many provisions at the moment raise our strong objections, or at least doubts. This law, which ostensibly modernizes the system, in practice paves the way for the commercialization of hospital operations, the centralization of decisions in the hands of the president of the National Health Fund, and short-sighted cost-cutting at the expense of patients," Wicha said, leaving little room for interpretation as to whether the Left likes the bill or the opposite.

In this situation, it would seem that the Health Committee would not rush to consider the motion to reject the law (Confederation) and the amendments submitted by Marcelina Zawisza. It was just the opposite: the HC met at 11 a.m. and within seven minutes gave a negative opinion on everything. And just when it looked like the coalition would crack with a bang on Friday afternoon, as the government's bill would be lost, word came that the third reading of the bill had been deleted. This means that it will be held at a later date (as long as the government has forged a majority), will not be held at all, or some other, surprising, decision will be made - on the very next lap.