Ambiguous provision in health care act gives nurses pay raise every month

President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Wednesday signed into law an amended bill which guarantees public health care employees long-coveted salary raises. The newly drafted legislation however appears to contain an ambiguous provision concerning when the pay increases are to go into effect. The act was originally supposed to ensure that health care employees, primarily nurses, get a raise of zl.203 in 2001 and explicitly stated that the increases were to total zl.203 per year. The final version redrafted by deputies, however, may be interpreted in such a way that salaries should be increased by zl.203 every month. This interpretation would cost the state seven times more than initially planned, hiking the sum from zl.1 billion to zl.7 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A1) A.D.