Health funds cut contracts to save zl. 1 billion

The majority of Regional Health Funds have cut their contracts with hospitals and clinics in a bid to save money, by as much as zl. 1 billion, which should then be destined for the new National Health Fund. "It must be a propaganda manoeuvre. Now, the situation is being made worse in order to be in possession of additional funds for when the National Health Fund comes into existence. Reducing the contracts results in further indebtedness of hospitals. The patients will thus be treated at the standards of the 1970s," claimed Krzysztof Bukiel, President of the Polish Union of Doctors (OZZL) at their conference yesterday. This opinion prevails among the doctors in the OZZL. The Health Ministry strongly opposed the above suppositions. "The numbers quoted by OZZL are incredible and their allegations unbelievable," said the Ministry's spokeswoman, Renata Furman. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) K.Z.