The National Health Fund has increasingly serious financial problems. “The minister says she will pay, the question is whether the National Health Fund will pay”

Two weeks ago, the woman received final confirmation that she suffers from multiple sclerosis. I don't want to show my face. She should start treatment immediately – but there is a big problem with this. – I called several or several dozen places throughout Poland and they told me that admission of new patients was suspended – says the sick woman.

The Minister of Health learned from the media that new patients with multiple sclerosis are not admitted to the drug program.

– A few days ago, when it appeared in the public space, I talked to the president of the National Health Fund – informed the Minister of Health, Izabela Leszczyna, on October 15.

The president of the National Health Fund was ordered to pay for the treatment of new patients with multiple sclerosis, although he should have done it without such an order.

– I only heard that it is not known how long the treatment will be suspended, please call other centers, and I heard exactly the same in other centers – says the woman suffering from multiple sclerosis.

READ ALSO: It is four times more infectious than the flu, and the consequences of infection can last for years. RSV virus on the attack

The woman will probably start treatment soon, since Izabela Leszczyna publicly promised it. The problem is that treatment is also being withheld for oncology patients with cervical cancer. This is a new type of immunotherapy.

– Unfortunately, we do not have access to this therapy at the moment. (…) The competition is waiting for the results and we are waiting for the decision in Mazovia. In other voivodeships this medicine is already available and we have reimbursement, so we send our patients throughout Poland – informs prof. Lubomir Bodnar, director of the Siedlce Oncology Center.

Professor Lubomir Bodnar had to refuse treatment to a sick patient using a modern method. She left the Siedlce Oncology Center crying. This is the darker side of the fight against cancer in Poland: sometimes seriously ill women wander around the country, looking for immunotherapy, although theoretically it should be available everywhere from April.

– The minister says she will pay, the question is whether the National Health Fund will pay, we want to see it in practice, for now we have patients who do not have access to the treatment they are promised – says Agnieszka Dolna from “Alivia” Onkofoundation.

These growing problems for patients with access to therapy result from the fact that the National Health Fund has increasingly serious financial problems, which the government must solve on an ongoing basis.

– We have secured this year in the National Health Fund, of course, we will also have to finance it from the state budget – says Izabela Leszczyna.

More and more will have to be added. Experts from the National Institute of Public Health, a state institution, estimate that over the next three years the financial gap in the health care system in Poland may reach up to PLN 160 billion.