203 MPs voted against. On August 5, the Sejm made a decision regarding hospital reform.
- 231 votes in favor, 203 against. The Sejm voted on the hospital reform bill.
- Initially, one of the coalition partners - the Left - broke away from supporting the project and it was removed from the voting schedule at the initial date.
- Ultimately, the Left changed its mind and the bill was passed. It will now be sent to the Senate.
On August 5, the Sejm passed the hospital reform bill . Initially, the ruling coalition lacked a majority for the bill. The Left broke ranks , announcing it would abstain. Ultimately, this party changed its mind and, like the Sejm majority, supported the bill.
Two Left MPs - Dorota Olko and Daria Gosek-Popiołek - abstained.
MPs from PiS, Konfederacja, Razem and Republikanie voted against the bill.
Former Minister of Health Izabela Leszczyna, who introduced the bill to the Sejm, also voted "for".
The Act provides, among other things:
- the possibility of flexible transformation of hospital wards,
- merging of hospitals by local governments,
- creating and monitoring recovery plans for indebted institutions,
- enabling pediatric hospitals to limit the provision of night and holiday healthcare services under the Public Healthcare System to minors.
Additionally, it also contains regulations regarding the abolition of the need for referral to:
- psychologist,
- sports medicine doctor,
- optometrist,
The latter will gain the competence to issue a referral to an ophthalmologist.
Let us recall that on June 25, the day of the originally scheduled vote, the Left surprised its coalition partners by explaining that it would not support the project.
MP Joanna Wicha explained that the reform is necessary, but this project "does not repair the foundations of the system."
"There are elements in this bill that we consider a step in the right direction. At the same time , too many provisions currently raise our strong objections or at least doubts, " Wicha emphasized.
With the entire opposition opposed (the Confederation and the Free Republicans Parliamentary Group submitted motions to reject the bill in its entirety) and a lack of support from one of the coalition partners (the others supported the bill), the government lacked a majority to pass the bill. Therefore, the decision was made to withdraw this item from the voting schedule.
On August 5, the Left Club changed its mind and announced its support for the bill .
"Our representative at the Ministry of Health, Deputy Minister Wojciech Konieczny, had a long and substantive conversation with the new minister, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda. The conclusion of the discussion is that the new minister is open to further amendments to the law," Łukasz Michnik, spokesman for the Left, explained.
"We maintain our position that this bill is imperfect, but recognizing the need to quickly rescue funds from the National Health Fund (KPO)—the PLN 10 billion that this bill will unlock for hospitals—we simply recognize the overriding necessity for this money to flow into our healthcare system. With the caveat that we will continue to work on this bill in the future," he added.
Unofficially, support for the bill may have stemmed from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's announcement of depoliticizing and de-partisanizing the Ministry of Health . This would mean the resignation of deputy ministers representing specific political parties within the ministry.
The Left does not hide the fact that it would like their representative, Senator Wojciech Konieczny, to retain his position in the Ministry of Health.
"Minister Konieczny is a pillar of public health care and will always oppose its privatization. He is a doctor and has managed a hospital. He knows the realities of this system from both a practical and political perspective," Anna Maria Żukowska , chairwoman of the Coalition Parliamentary Club of the Left, told us.
She explained that without political support, the new Minister of Health, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, will find it difficult to act, and that she will need a fast-track communication path with Minister Andrzej Domański regarding healthcare finances.
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