Toasting the health of the nation
To be onboard a helicopter that crashes is bad enough, but Leszek Miller's misery really only reached its nadir when he was actually taken into hospital. The prime minister attracted a good deal of sympathy for the misfortune of being forced to spend time at one of the miserable, hostile establishments that pass under the name of a hospital in this country. Looking on the bright side, however, the never-ending pilgrimage of cabinet ministers to the prime minister's bedside led some casual observers to hope that they might actually turn their attentions to the state of an even sicker patient, Poland's long-suffering national health service.
That these hopes did materialize did not come about as a result of the medical attention received by the prime minister, but due to the fact that the Constitutional Tribunal forced the government to rethink its health-service reform. Last week's ruling that the law setting up the National Health Fund (NFZ) was unconstitutional and created an "inefficient system detrimental to the patients' dignity" surprised no one, except the former health minister and Left Democratic Alliance (SLD) deputy Mariusz Łapiński. The man was thrown out of the ruling party after an incident in which a press photographer was attacked by Łapiński's henchmen outside SLD's headquarters. Łapiński is also the main architect of the current system and can rightfully claim to have been one of the least competent and most universally reviled ministers in the country's history. He was particularly renowned for his talent of choosing corrupt aides and abusing respected civil servants.
Now as the government is pondering how to accomplish a complete overhaul of the health service by the end of the year, the deadline set by the Constitutional Tribunal, former minister Łapiński has more pressing problems to cope with. He is negotiating the creation of a pro-government parliamentary party along with a number of deputies who have all been kicked out of their respective parties. The members of this group can boast an impressive criminal record between them, their misdemeanors ranging from drunken disorderly behavior in the parliament building to perverting the course of justice and endangering the life of police officers, as in the case of Michał Jagiełło, another former SLD politician.
The name of the new party is not yet known, although the possibilities are endless. The All-Night Party could be appropriate given the shenanigans of several members who "cannot take their wine." Fight Club is another option, considering the circumstances of Łapiński's eviction from the ruling party and Zbigniew Witaszek's (formerly of Samoobrona or Self-defense) record as a fighter in the parliament's bar. But the talented group of politicians set to form the new party will doubtless come up with something far more imaginative.
That these hopes did materialize did not come about as a result of the medical attention received by the prime minister, but due to the fact that the Constitutional Tribunal forced the government to rethink its health-service reform. Last week's ruling that the law setting up the National Health Fund (NFZ) was unconstitutional and created an "inefficient system detrimental to the patients' dignity" surprised no one, except the former health minister and Left Democratic Alliance (SLD) deputy Mariusz Łapiński. The man was thrown out of the ruling party after an incident in which a press photographer was attacked by Łapiński's henchmen outside SLD's headquarters. Łapiński is also the main architect of the current system and can rightfully claim to have been one of the least competent and most universally reviled ministers in the country's history. He was particularly renowned for his talent of choosing corrupt aides and abusing respected civil servants.
Now as the government is pondering how to accomplish a complete overhaul of the health service by the end of the year, the deadline set by the Constitutional Tribunal, former minister Łapiński has more pressing problems to cope with. He is negotiating the creation of a pro-government parliamentary party along with a number of deputies who have all been kicked out of their respective parties. The members of this group can boast an impressive criminal record between them, their misdemeanors ranging from drunken disorderly behavior in the parliament building to perverting the course of justice and endangering the life of police officers, as in the case of Michał Jagiełło, another former SLD politician.
The name of the new party is not yet known, although the possibilities are endless. The All-Night Party could be appropriate given the shenanigans of several members who "cannot take their wine." Fight Club is another option, considering the circumstances of Łapiński's eviction from the ruling party and Zbigniew Witaszek's (formerly of Samoobrona or Self-defense) record as a fighter in the parliament's bar. But the talented group of politicians set to form the new party will doubtless come up with something far more imaginative.
