Izabela Leszczyna will lead the Ministry of Health [COMMENTS].

- Dialogue, an open mind and optimism - Piotr Pawliszak, president of the Regional Medical Council in Warsaw, summarized his advice to Izabela Leszczyna in these short words.

The role of the ability to engage in dialogue with representatives of all sides of the system was also emphasized by Andrzej Tytuła, vice president of the Supreme Chamber of Nurses and Midwives.

- I think the minister will not run away from talking and solving problems. For our professional group, it is very important to maintain the professional independence of nurses and midwives in primary health care. We want the professional practice to continue to be independent and for nurses in primary care to be able to contract services independently," said Andrzej Tytuła.

Meanwhile, the president of the Supreme Pharmaceutical Chamber, Elżbieta Piotrowska-Rutkowska, called for the active inclusion of pharmacists in the health care system.

- We are not a cost to the system, but a very good solution. Attention should be paid to cooperation between medical professions. What is needed is the development of these standards, so that we permeate each other with competencies and accept them, and then the effect of treatment will be definitely better than now," the NIA president pointed out.

Monika Pintal-Slimak, president of the National Council of Laboratory Diagnosticians, asked for a look at all medical professions from the legislative side.

- This year we lacked dialogue between local government, the environment, and the Ministry of Health. We would like the legislative procedure to proceed differently. Important, especially from the point of view of patients, is the introduction of the concept of diagnostic advice. This would shorten the diagnostic pathway. We also believe that quality in health care comes from the quality of medics. The introduction of employment standards would undoubtedly have an impact on this," said Monika Pintal-Slimak.

The words to the new health minister were also addressed by doctors who have daily contact with patients in their practice. In their view, it is the patients who should be the pivot of any head of the health ministry.

- I don't feel competent to advise the Minister, but I think it is very important for hematology patients, especially hematooncology patients, to maintain rapid access to new, effective therapies. So far, this access has been very good, and I am convinced that this line will continue," stressed Prof. Tomasz Wróbel, head of the Department of Hematology, Blood Tumors and Marrow Transplantation of the Faculty of Postgraduate Medical Education of the Piast of Silesia Medical University in Wroclaw.

- You can see the needs of the doctor and the patient most when you get down to the level of the doctor practicing his profession with the patient, if only for a moment. Then you can see everything. We would dream of more comfort, better accessibility, shorter appointments. Patients' goals and doctors' goals are the same. Unfortunately, they are difficult to achieve," said Dr. Michal Lis, head of the Department of Internal Medicine with Endocrinology-Diabetes Subdivision, Nephrology Subdivision and Dialysis Station at Czerniakowski Hospital in Warsaw.

We also asked Renata Kaznowska, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw, for advice for Izabela Leszczyna. She pointed to an audit of the Health Ministry's finances and distribution of funds as a priority.

- I also dream of including breast ultrasound and cytology in occupational medicine. There would be an unimaginable drop in cancer incidence and mortality. Another thing would be to create a system along the lines of the oncological DILO and bundle in it the fight against strokes and their consequences," said the deputy mayor of Warsaw.

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Izabela Leszczyna is a Polish scholar by education. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, she won a parliamentary seat for the first time, running on the Civic Platform list. In subsequent elections she obtained re-election. From April 11, 2013 to November 20, 2015 she was secretary of state at the Ministry of Finance.