Doctors' protest with NFZ gathers support far and wide

The terms of the contracts proposed by National Health Fund (NFZ) are unacceptable, say many family physicians. They refused to take part in the recently announced tenders. As a result, patients may have to pay for medical services out of their own pocket. Following the example of colleagues from Silesia, Wielkopolska, Opolskie and Lubuskie, over 75% of physicians from Podlasie offering basic medical care signed a commitment to refuse to participate in the tender contest. The physicians are particularly dissatisfied with the prospect of having to be ready to offer assistance 24 hours a day and a proposal that 10% of their earnings would be devoted to financing laboratory research. "We want the Fund to understand that it cannot disregard us, and that thousands of patients are behind us," said Joanna Zabielska-Cieciuch a physician from Białystok. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5) M.K.