The National Union of Doctors has called for an end to the practice of equating the entire medical community with allegations directed at a single politician who is also a practicing physician. In a statement, the OZZL National Executive Board emphasizes that responsibility for the long-standing problems in the healthcare system lies with successive governments, not with doctors working for the benefit of their patients.
Doctors Are Not to Blame for the System's Flaws. OZZL Responds to a Wave of Criticism
Published June 29, 2026 09:04
The National Executive Board of the All-Polish Doctors’ Trade Union has issued a statement in which it opposes—as it emphasizes—the generalization of the situation involving a politician who is also a practicing physician to the entire medical community.
– We deplore the attempt to shift responsibility from the political sphere onto hardworking doctors across the country. Nor can we overlook the fact that the individuals targeted by the allegations appearing in the public sphere also hold or have held significant public and political offices. The alleged abuses therefore seem to reveal problems related to the functioning of the political establishment rather than issues specific to the medical profession,” the statement reads.
The OZZL points out that for years it has been presenting successive governments with proposals aimed at improving the functioning of the healthcare system and doctors’ working conditions. Among these proposals, it lists, among other things, a statutory salary for specialist physicians set at three times the average wage in the economy, a limit on doctors’ working hours to a maximum of 48 hours per week, and a clear separation between work in the public healthcare system and practice in the private sector.
As the union points out, the proposal to limit doctors’ working hours was intended to improve both patient safety and the working conditions of medical staff. According to the OZZL, however, none of the subsequent health ministers has addressed this issue.
“Such regulations could have been introduced for professional drivers, but not for doctors,” notes the National Executive Board of OZZL. According to the union, the current criticism directed at doctors is unfair and overlooks the real causes of systemic problems.
– Shifting the blame for the dire situation in healthcare onto doctors today is akin to condemning a firefighter who remains on the job after his shift ends to save lives. For sacrificing our own time and health for the sake of patients, our community is facing undeserved hate and an increase in aggression toward doctors,” the statement read.
The OZZL emphasizes that doctors are not responsible for the level of healthcare funding, the pricing of medical services, underestimated lump-sum payments, the lack of health insurance system reform, insufficient staffing standards, or the failure to comply with working time regulations.
– It is not doctors who are responsible for the percentage of GDP allocated to health care being inadequate for our needs; it is not doctors who are responsible for underestimated flat-rate payments, poorly priced procedures, the lack of health insurance system reform, the lack of staffing standards, and the failure to comply with doctors’ working hours. Instead, the responsibility lies with a system that for years has failed to adapt to actual healthcare needs,” the union emphasizes.
According to the OZZL, “successive governments bear sole responsibility for the current crisis in healthcare.”
In closing, the National Executive Board of the OZZL thanked the doctors for their daily work.
“We would like to thank all our fellow doctors for their hard work, commitment, and dedication to saving the health and lives of Polish patients,” the statement read.
Source: OZZL
