A member of Poland’s government has resigned from his position in order to return to work as a doctor and help tackle the pandemic. Record numbers of COVID-19 cases have left the Polish healthcare system struggling, especially with a lack of medical staff.
“In recent times I have tried to serve Poland [as a minister] with my experience and knowledge,” said Wojciech Maksymowicz, the departing deputy minister for education and science. “But I have always emphasised that I am first and foremost a doctor, and only a politician second.”
Now that the “country is in need”, and “above all in need of doctors and nurses”, Maksymowicz has decided to return to work as a neurosurgeon while also serving at the Covid ward of the University Hospital in Olsztyn, reports TVN24.
Maksymowicz urged his “fellow doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics who have not worked in the healthcare system recently” to return. “I hope that together we will manage to defeat coronavirus as soon as possible,” he appealed.
Last month, the government criticised medics who it claimed were refusing to join the fight against the pandemic. “Unfortunately there is a lack of will from part of the medical community,” said a deputy prime minister.
But more recently it has changed its tone, seeking to reward staff already involved in treating COVID-19 patients by doubling their pay, as well as trying to entice qualified medics to return to the profession.
There are also efforts to attract doctors from abroad, in particular neighbouring Ukraine and Belarus. This week the health ministry said it is hoping to bring in over 1,000 foreign doctors. The ruling party is seeking to push through legislation making it quicker and easier for them to start working in Poland.
Poland today again registered its highest ever daily number of new coronavirus cases (27,143). It also recorded its second highest number of Covid-related deaths (367), slightly below yesterday’s record 373.
At the start of this week, Poland had the fourth highest number of COVID-19 deaths (in proportion to population) in the EU over the last seven days.
The surge in cases has left the health service at the “limits of its capacity”, admitted the health minister, Adam Niedzielski, this week. In response, the government has introduced a wide range of restrictions, and warned that a “full lockdown” could be imminent.
It has also completed the construction of a temporary hospital at the National Stadium in Warsaw – which started receiving patients today – and tasked state-owned companies with helping to create further ones in other parts of the country.
However, many doctors and health experts have warned that it is not a lack of equipment and space that is the problem, but rather too few qualified medical staff. As such, there are concerns that creating new emergency hospitals will not resolve – and could even exacerbate – the situation.
Warsaw’s opposition mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, claims that attempts by the new National Stadium hospital to poach staff from other facilities in the capital with offers of higher pay are disrupting the existing health system.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
