The maternity ward was closed. There was a petition, and the ministry's response came a month and a half later.

• On August 1, the Gynecology and Obstetrics Ward at the Dr. J. Dietl Independent Public Healthcare Facility-Hospital in Krynica-Zdrój was closed.
• Residents and local councillors tried to defend the operation of the branch
• They submitted a petition to the Ministry of Health on this matter.
• The answer came on September 16, two weeks after the branch was closed down.

On July 18, a petition was sent to the former Minister of Health, Izabela Leszczyna, in which residents and councillors defended the ward.

“We, the undersigned residents of the City and Commune of Krynica-Zdrój and the City and Commune of Muszyna, express our strong opposition to the planned closure of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Ward at the Independent Public Health Care Facility – Dr. Józef Dietl Hospital in Krynica-Zdrój (hereinafter also referred to as: Dr. Józef Dietl Hospital in Krynica-Zdrój, Hospital) on July 31, 2025,” wrote the petition’s signatories.

They pointed out that such a decision "obviously and directly affects the fundamental rights of the residents of the city and commune of Krynica-Zdrój and Muszyna."

"The right to decent medical care, to give birth in safe conditions and as close to home as possible is a fundamental right, so necessary in times of falling demographics and growing social unrest related to the difficulties of motherhood and the crisis in access to healthcare," we read in the petition.

They recalled that the department had been operating for decades, and that the hospital management's decision to close the department should have been preceded by public consultation. They also emphasized that an alternative hospital with such a department is in Nowy Sącz, 34 km from Krynica-Zdrój and 56 km from Muszyna.

The closure of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Ward at the Dr. Józef Dietl Hospital in Krynica-Zdrój will effectively force pregnant women, people requiring gynecological care, and new mothers to travel many kilometers to a city at least 30 minutes away, which in emergency and urgent situations will pose a threat to the health and even life of patients and children.

The authors of the petition demanded that the decision to close the branch be suspended.

However, the branch ceased to function on August 1.

There is a response from the Ministry of Health

On September 16, i.e. 1.5 months after the closure of the ward, residents received an official response from the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health indicated that organizational matters remain the exclusive responsibility of the founding entity—in this case, Nowy Sącz County—including any decisions regarding the closure of branches. The Minister of Health, however, has no authority to directly interfere with the operations of such healthcare entities.

In turn, the legislator placed the responsibility for ensuring that local communities have adequate access to healthcare services on local government units.

The Ministry of Health reminded that on 18 July 2025, the hospital informed the Małopolska Regional Branch of the National Health Fund about the cessation of providing healthcare services in the field of gynecology, obstetrics and neonatology as of 1 August 2025 due to the constantly decreasing number of births and the decreasing number of patients using the services.

In the first half of 2025, 144 children were born in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department, which means less than one birth per day and confirms the continuing downward trend, i.e. in: 2020 – 484 births, 2021 – 463, 2022 – 438, 2023 – 421, 2024 – 337.

In its justification, the hospital also indicated that the loss of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department and the neonatal unit in 2024 amounted to PLN 4.85 million, and data for the first half of this year indicate that the loss in 2025 will most likely exceed PLN 5 million. Hence the hospital management's decision.

The Ministry emphasized that obstetrics and gynecology hospitalization services for patients from the Nowy Sącz district remain secured in the city of Nowy Sącz, where they are provided by the Jędrzej Śniadecki Specialist Hospital and Medikor III Sp. z o.o. - Both entities are at the second reference level, thus providing gynecological and obstetrics care at a level much higher than the hospital in Krynica-Zdrój - emphasizes the Ministry of Health.

At the hospital in Krynica-Zdrój - as assured by the Ministry of Health - after August 1, patients will still be able to use outpatient services in the field of obstetrics and gynecology.

The Ministry of Health also reminds in its response that the Minister of Health is taking a number of actions aimed at introducing legal and systemic solutions that will facilitate the operation of hospitals, including those in Krynica-Zdrój, and the draft hospital reform will come into effect on September 17. "The reform is expected to strengthen the hospital system by consolidating resources and streamlining costs for healthcare entities in situations where there is overlap or inefficient dispersion of potential, especially in terms of staffing, in relation to the identified healthcare needs in a given area," the ministry argues.