We do not agree to mediocrity in health care, we want the doctor who treats Polish patients to be a well-educated doctor, not burnt out and working in a well-financed system, said Sebastian Goncerz, chairman of the OZZL Residents’ Agreement, at Saturday’s protest in front of the Ministry of Health. The protest goes beyond the issue of earnings – young doctors demand “quality of education, quality of work and quality of the system.”
On Saturday after 12 noon, a protest by resident doctors began in Warsaw. The protesters are demanding changes regarding the “quality of education, quality of work and quality of the system.” They want to be able to devote more time to their patients, as well as the appropriate education of their colleagues.
Read also: Resident doctors are sounding the alarm. “This is a certain domino that is starting to fall”
Protest of resident doctors in WarsawTVN24
The demands also included those regarding the non-medical profession of a psychologist. One of the banners entitled “3 x STOP” reads about opposition to “lowering the quality of psychologists’ education”, “distributing psychologists’ competences” and “degrading the psychologist’s profession”.
Protest of resident doctors in front of the Ministry of Health
– We do not agree to mediocrity in health care, we want the doctor who treats Polish patients to be a well-educated doctor, not burnt out and working in a well-financed system – said Sebastian Goncerz, chairman of the OZZL Residents’ Agreement, at the beginning of the protest. He emphasized that “health does not have a party ID card and this protest does not have a party ID card either.”
TVN24 reporter Karolina Wasilewska talked to one of the protest participants – a medical student. – This time we are focusing strongly on the issue of the system itself. The fact that doctors have to do a lot of work “at the desk”, a lot of bureaucratization. At this point, we care more about good working conditions. We don’t just want decent wages, but we also want good education, good working conditions, so that this bureaucratic issue does not take up so much time, so that this time can be devoted to patients – said Wasilewska’s interlocutor.
The protesting student expressed hope that a representative of the ministry would meet with residents on Saturday.
One of the protesters’ demands is to increase spending on health care to eight percent of GDP. According to Central Statistical Office data in 2022, the share of current expenditure on health care was five percent.
Protesters also draw attention to the fact that there are attempts to create schools without appropriate facilities, for example in the form of a dissecting room, which allows for testing theoretical knowledge in practice.
In a letter sent by the Association of Residents of the National Trade Union of Doctors, we read: “This protest is intended to be an appeal to all politicians in Poland. Doctors say it straight – we do not agree to mediocrity in health care management. As practitioners, we see a multitude of systemic problems every day and we have “enough of ignoring them. Health care MUST become a key point of the political agenda this election.”
Before the protest, Sebastian Goncerz was a guest of the “One on One” program on TVN24, chairman of the OZZL Residents’ Agreement. He admitted that he was worried about the quality of education and that “in the future we will have to work in teams, because medicine is teamwork, which in a sense is deficient in terms of knowledge, education and preparation.”
Main photo source: TVN24