Medexpress news summary - December 7, 2022

Although this year's flu vaccines were available in pharmacies as early as mid-August, and from September 1, the National Health Fund finances the vaccination service, Poland will probably record another spectacular decrease in the percentage of vaccinated. By December 2, less than 650,000 people had decided to be vaccinated against influenza. The influenza vaccine can be taken in medical facilities and pharmacies, but in order to be vaccinated in a pharmacy, the patient must first go to a general practitioner for a prescription. Qualification for influenza vaccination of an adult may, apart from a doctor, also be made by a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife, paramedic, physiotherapist, laboratory diagnostician and pharmacist. The qualifying examination of minors is performed only by a doctor.

More than one fifth of children in Poland struggle with the problem of excessive body weight, according to data collected by the Supreme Audit Office based on the analysis of medical records. 14.5 percent Polish children are overweight, 7.2 percent. are obese people. According to experts, we are no longer on the verge of a catastrophe. The critical point has been crossed. The data collected in the NIK report concern the entire pediatric group, i.e. people aged 2 to 18. According to prof. about health Anna Fijałkowska, cardiologist, second degree specialist in internal medicine, who is an expert of the Program Council for Public Health at the Minister of Health, the problem should be analyzed in relation to different age groups of children. – The prevalence of obesity in children in the first years of primary school is higher than these data indicate. We carried out three editions of the study: in 2016, 2018 and 2021. While in 2016 the frequency of overweight and obesity slightly exceeded 30%, now it is already 35%. in eight-year-old children. For boys, it is almost 40%. The problem of obesity itself reaches the level of 20% in boys. – mentions Prof. Anna Fijalkowska. This may mean creating a group of up to 70,000 students in each year of the initial classes of primary school. potential patients eligible for obesity treatment.

- There are doctors who earn quite an average salary, but some earn very, very much. I wouldn't mind it if the health service really worked as it should, said Jarosław Kaczyński, the president of Law and Justice, during a meeting with the inhabitants of Nowa Sól. Kaczyński's words sparked indignation among doctors. The Presidium of the Supreme Medical Council issued an official position. The statement that "doctors are excessively chasing money" is highly harmful to us, it suggests an untrue thesis that it is the desire for profit that motivates doctors to work - we read in the letter. Doctors consider such statements as attempts to shift the blame for the poorly functioning health care system to the medical staff, the organization of which lies within the powers of the government and the consequences of which patients face on a daily basis.

Another three persons suspected of participating in an organized criminal group detained by the CBA. It is about the export of drugs outside Poland under the so-called drug distribution chain. The arrest was made by officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Białystok, and the activities were carried out in the Pomorskie, Mazowieckie, Łódzkie and Małopolskie voivodeships.

The detainees included: the owner of a company registered in the Czech Republic, through which drugs illegally purchased from Poland were exported; the owner of a chain of pharmacies cooperating with the group, from which drugs worth about PLN 3.5 million were sold as part of the criminal practice, and a person providing assistance in taking over business entities, which were then used by the group in the criminal practice. The detainees will be charged with, inter alia, participation in and management of an organized criminal group.
So far, 11 other people have been arrested in this case. It is estimated that the total value of drugs illegally purchased by the group is not less than PLN 7.5 million.