Belka backs 'wounded' Balicki after failure
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Marek Belka refused to accept the resignation of embattled Health Minister Marek Balicki, even after his bill to reform the ailing health sector was rejected by Parliament.
"I handed in my resignation, but the Prime Minister said he did not accept it," said Balicki.
The bill had proposed changes to the sector's financing regulations, which opponents say could have forced state hospitals to close or become privatized.
Last Wednesday, some 200 trade-union representatives from the nation's health sector held demonstrations outside Parliament, where legislators were debating the measure. They threatened a nationwide strike if the bill was adopted.
According to the bill, hospitals would have been required to renounce financial claims against the government as a condition of receiving low-interest loans. Private debt collectors also would have been allowed to draw on hospital accounts designated for wages, which up to now had been off-limits. The government had hoped the new measures would force the cash-strapped hospitals to become leaner and more efficient with their finances.
The Ministry of Health had claimed that the new bill would give hospitals more help and offered them soft loans on condition that they settle their debts.
"This bill doesn't lead to the bankruptcy of hospitals-it is meant to help hospitals," Balicki told reporters last Wednesday. "It is supposed to prevent a critical situation."
The bill failed 196 votes to 208, with several members of the ruling party, Social Democratic Alliance (SLD), noticeably absent. Balicki then offered up his resignation, saying that support for his position was insufficient.
However, Balicki said that he could continue in the position if he received full political backing from the ruling party along with a number of other conditions, to which Belka agreed. (Reuters)
"I handed in my resignation, but the Prime Minister said he did not accept it," said Balicki.
The bill had proposed changes to the sector's financing regulations, which opponents say could have forced state hospitals to close or become privatized.
Last Wednesday, some 200 trade-union representatives from the nation's health sector held demonstrations outside Parliament, where legislators were debating the measure. They threatened a nationwide strike if the bill was adopted.
According to the bill, hospitals would have been required to renounce financial claims against the government as a condition of receiving low-interest loans. Private debt collectors also would have been allowed to draw on hospital accounts designated for wages, which up to now had been off-limits. The government had hoped the new measures would force the cash-strapped hospitals to become leaner and more efficient with their finances.
The Ministry of Health had claimed that the new bill would give hospitals more help and offered them soft loans on condition that they settle their debts.
"This bill doesn't lead to the bankruptcy of hospitals-it is meant to help hospitals," Balicki told reporters last Wednesday. "It is supposed to prevent a critical situation."
The bill failed 196 votes to 208, with several members of the ruling party, Social Democratic Alliance (SLD), noticeably absent. Balicki then offered up his resignation, saying that support for his position was insufficient.
However, Balicki said that he could continue in the position if he received full political backing from the ruling party along with a number of other conditions, to which Belka agreed. (Reuters)
