Private clinics want a level playing field to compete with state hospitals

Currently, the number of the clients of private medical clinics amounts to 800,000. "We have room to treat ten times this number, " said Marcin Halicki, the president of Lux Med. The representatives of private clinics propose to introduce tax incentives for patients who receive treatment at private clinics and for companies which pay for the treatment of their employees at private hospitals. They want to be treated equally with the public hospitals during the granting of contracts for healthcare services by the National Health Fund. Currently, only a small part of their revenues comes from that source. According to them, healthy competition will allow for the elimination of unregistered healthcare services, the value of which is estimated at zł.8-10 billion. The revenues of private medical companies amount to zł.700 million annually. (Rzeczpospolita, pp.A1, B1) E.B.