Health Minister announces controversial changes for the health service

The creation of one health fund instead of 17 regional health funds, gradual increases in the health insurance tax, hospital closures and privatization of so-called basic health care are among the most important changes proposed by the Health Minister Mariusz Lapinski in his "National Health Care Act". The act was presented in a meeting at the Medical Academy in Warsaw which was planned as the final stage of the public discussion on the highly controversial matter. However, representatives of doctors' and nurses' associations were not invited to the meeting. "I don't have to listen to their opinion," said Lapinski, arguing that their views had already been taken into account. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A4) M.K.