Nurses and doctors ready to break ranks?

This did not please doctors, who later decided that they would not attend the meeting with the Health Minister. "If the government wants to talk with us seriously, it should invite us to a meeting about the reform of the health sector and the fulfillment of our demands," stated Krzysztof Bukiel, the head of the doctor's trade union OZZL. Despite the boycott by the doctors, the nurses decided to take part in the meeting. Four hours later the Health Minister Zbigniew Religa was very pleased with the talk results, declaring that he hoped that the nurses will suspend their protest and remove the so-called white city in front of the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday. The nurses seemed to be less pleased, but they did not reject the Health Ministry's offer. "The white city will disappear when we get confirmation of a salary increase," declared Dorota Gardias, the head of the nurses' union. (Gazeta Wyborcza, pp. 1, 3; Dziennik, p. 3) E.B.