Doctors still do not have tools for systemic treatment of refugees from Ukraine. The problem of drug reimbursement is also still unresolved - the Zielona Góra Agreement is alarming.

- We are in solidarity with Ukrainian citizens who need our help. We help as much as we can, but we have still not received any legal instruments to do it systematically and in the long term. So now the refugees from Ukraine deserve only emergency aid, nothing more - said Jacek Krajewski, president of the Federation of Zielona Góra Agreement, during the press conference.

Experts emphasized that they were counting on a special act. That it will clarify many of the controversial issues and problems that primary care physicians face on a daily basis. Meanwhile, they did not get anything like that. And the issue of drug reimbursement is of key importance for doctors. Often specialized and very expensive.

Patients from Ukraine who go to GP surgeries are often elderly, with many ailments, with aggravated diseases, because it happens that for several days they have not taken medications that they should take on a permanent basis. In addition, they do not have drugs with them, but also medical records. This is understandable in war, but it has serious consequences.

- We have no reason to issue reimbursed drugs to such a patient. Our documentation does not show that the patient is chronically ill, has been diagnosed, has been subjected to specialist examinations, and on this basis, a prescription has been issued with the appropriate level of reimbursement. We cannot do anything like that, because if we do it, the National Health Fund will make us accountable for it, even in a few years we will be fined for it - says Tomasz Zieliński, expert of the Zielona Góra Agreement.

This is the basic problem of doctors, which should be solved immediately, because it will cause enormous problems for the Polish health care system. Because if a patient from Ukraine does not receive a refunded drug, but only a fully paid one, he will probably not buy it. His health condition, in the case of e.g. diabetes or hypertension, will worsen, the disease will worsen and he will go to the hospital at the HED, where there are problems with the staff and queues now. In a moment there will be hundreds of such patients and the care system will collapse. Refunding medications is better and cheaper, but doctors must be allowed to prescribe such medications. The special act does not regulate this.

Doctors emphasize that such provisions are needed immediately, because a similar problem concerns the care of children who go to doctors without health records and there is no confirmation of preventive vaccinations.

- Often parents say that the child was vaccinated, but they do not have any documents and I have no grounds for giving another dose of any vaccine - adds Anna Osowska, PZ expert.

There is also a language barrier. The patient needs to be thoroughly explained and a health interview should be taken, and most often refugees speak only Ukrainian.

- There is total chaos. We want to heal, we have committed ourselves to it, but no one consults with us what we can and cannot do and the effects are dramatic - says Joanna Szeląg, PZ expert.

Doctors absolutely need bilingual forms to be able to communicate with Ukrainian patients, clear regulations - not messages from the National Health Fund and the Ministry of Health conferences. The ability to reimburse drugs is also crucial.

- We have contracts signed with the National Health Fund and what the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund determines does not apply to us. MZ is not our employer. We, doctors, are subject to the National Health Fund, and the National Health Fund can check us and punish us after a few years. And he does it meticulously - adds Marek Twardowski, vice president of PZ.

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