The debt of the hospital in Grudziądz is PLN 436 million. The Wolski Hospital in Warsaw has to pay PLN 20 million immediately. There are more such indebted hospitals in Poland. The Ministry of Health revealed hospital debts for 2022. No wonder it’s after the elections, because there’s nothing to be proud of.
The Municipal Hospital in Grudziądz has a debt of PLN 436 million. This is approximately the annual budget of this facility. The hospital cannot cope with such a debt on its own, even if it has the best management in the world. – We had to build a hospital, liabilities were incurred for the construction and equipment of hospitals, and then the financial consequences avalanche hit us – explains Agata Kurkowska, director of the Regional Specialist Hospital named after Dr. W. Biegański in Grudziądz. It has been like this for several years. There are other hospitals in the country in a similar situation – for example, the Wolski Hospital in Warsaw, which also has a huge debt. – As of April 30, I had PLN 20 million in liabilities due. This is simply an unimaginable amount. I have been working in the health service for over 20 years, and the financial situation has never been so bad, so tragic – warns Robert Mazur, president of the management board of the Wolski Hospital. Dr. Anna Gostyńska in Warsaw.
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Twice as much debt
The numbers show how much the financial situation of hospitals has deteriorated during the PiS era. Only now, after the elections, has the Ministry of Health revealed the hospital debt for 2022 – it is PLN 19.5 billion. There was nothing to brag about. The debt has doubled in eight years. This is one of the greatest negligences of the ending government. PiS added obligations to hospitals, for example in the form of raises for employees – in 2022 and 2023 – without providing adequate funds for this. Years ago, he also unsuccessfully tried to reform the entire system. First, Health Minister Konstanty Radziwiłł in Beata Szydło’s government announced the creation of a hospital network. – We participated in terms of negotiations and the network. This reform was never introduced as intended, notes Waldemar Malinowski, president of the National Association of District Hospital Employers.
When this failed, Minister Adam Niedzielski announced another hospital reform two years ago. It was so poorly prepared that it did not pass the Sejm at all, where PiS had a majority. In this situation, in 2023, before the elections, Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, saving the sinking institutions, simply started providing them with various types of subsidies. – Now, when you talk to hospital directors, the investments they have are mainly from EU or ministerial money, and these liabilities are largely simply loans. Often, to repay these loans, further loans are taken out – explains Aleksandra Kurowska, editor-in-chief of the cowzdrowiu.pl portal.
Hospitals operate on increasingly larger loans. In this way, money that could contribute to faster development of health care is wasted.
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