Polish medics march to desire greater fork out and wellness procedure reforms

WARSAW, Sept 11 (Reuters) – 1000’s of Poland’s health care workers marched as a result of the streets of Warsaw on Saturday, demanding improved spend and conditions as the region braces for a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lots of health care staff members say coronavirus has laid bare failings in the country’s well being program and that professions in the sector are not appealing because of to low wages and high stages of strain.

“We want respectable work and wages … I perform now for about 500 hrs a thirty day period, not for cash, but because there is no a person to perform,” claimed 41-calendar year-previous paramedic Wojciech Zdanowski.

Brandishing banners with slogans this kind of as “Jointly for the great of clients” and “Ill state”, nurses, health professionals, physiotherapists and ambulance workers, a lot of in uniform, gathered in close proximity to the Supreme Court docket in advance of marching via the centre of the capital.

Their calls for incorporate larger wages, hiring more administrative and aid workers and measures to secure against physical and verbal aggression.

Poland’s Well being Minister Adam Niedzielski has dismissed the demands as as well pricey and unrealistic, involving an enhance of all-around 105 billion zlotys ($27.31 billion) that would push well being investing to over 10% of gross domestic merchandise (GDP).

“Let’s be significant, if at this second we have a budget for wellbeing that is 120 or 130 billion zlotys and there is a demand to maximize that by 100 billion… it goes entirely outside of the bounds of great sense and explanation,” Niedzielski explained to non-public broadcaster Radio Zet on Friday.

In January 2020 a physician with a specialisation attained on ordinary almost 14,000 zlotys a thirty day period before tax, when nurses earned involving 5,700 and 6,600 zlotys, according to overall health ministry info cited by each day newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

Poland, a nation of all-around 38 million, has so significantly claimed 2,893,173 circumstances of the coronavirus and 75,425 fatalities.

($1 = 3.8441 zlotys)

Reporting by Alicja Ptak Producing by Alan Charlish Modifying by Mike Harrison

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