There are many expectations and hopes, but also serious challenges, and little time. A summary of opinions about the new minister.

• Rynek Zdrowia asked politicians, professional self-governments, representatives of hospitals and medical professions how they assessed the election of Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda as Minister of Health.
• Hopes and expectations related to Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda's experience in hospital restructuring and her knowledge of the system "from the inside" dominate opinions about the new Minister of Health.
• At the same time, stakeholders point to numerous challenges, including guiding healthcare policy and reforming the healthcare system and its financing. They emphasize that time is short.
• We summarize all the opinions

Hospital reform and an underfunded healthcare system – these are the challenges the new Minister of Health in Donald Tusk’s government will have to face.

Rynek Zdrowia asked stakeholders of the healthcare system for their opinions on the change in the position of the head of the Ministry of Health.

Local governments and businesses have concerns and hopes

• - We are concerned that district hospitals will not be treated as an unnecessary element of the system - admits Bernadeta Skóbel , an expert from the Association of Polish Counties, pointing out that Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, the new Minister of Health, has so far managed primarily provincial hospitals.
  
• - Jolanta Sobierańska - Grenda is a practitioner, so I hope that we will be able to communicate more easily - this is how Waldemar Malinowski , president of the National Association of District Hospital Employers , comments on the change in the position of the Minister of Health for Rynek Zdrowia.
  
• Will the new Minister of Health, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, keep the safety of Poles as high a priority as it was for her predecessor, Izabela Leszczyna's, team? That's the hope of the National Drug Manufacturers.

• Prime Minister Donald Tusk has once again emphasized that digitizing healthcare is one of the government's priorities. Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, the new head of the Ministry of Health, has completed a major regional e-health project. The medical IT industry is therefore hoping to engage in dialogue with digital solution providers at the beginning of her term.
  
• "The new minister has a very difficult task ahead of her. A miracle certainly won't happen overnight, because it takes years, not a month or two, for everything to suddenly be perfect, for the queues to disappear, and for there to be enough money for everything. That's impossible. But there's room for optimism, considering that the restructuring of Pomeranian hospitals has been successful. (...) However, the system is not just about hospitals, which is why a broader strategy is needed, addressing various areas of the healthcare system," says Dorota Korycińska, president of the Polish Oncology Federation and the Neurofibromatosis Poland Association.
  

Medical communities are counting on dialogue

• - Instead of a political signal that health care is important to the government, more names are being nominated for the Minister of Health and a direct attack on medical professionals - this is how the medical self-government comments on Donald Tusk's speech.
  
• "We view the Prime Minister's words as preparations for cutting wages for all medical professions, as everything indicates that this is the intention regarding changes to the Minimum Wage Act in healthcare," said Jakub Kosikowski, spokesman for the Supreme Medical Chamber. He announced that the medical self-government would submit its proposals for changes to the healthcare system to the new Minister of Health. "We will present the Minister with several ideas that, in our opinion, would improve the situation and be beneficial to everyone. However, it's difficult to consider the change in the Ministry of Health a breakthrough; this is still the government of the same Prime Minister," he stated.

• According to the OZZL, declarations about "depoliticizing the Ministry of Health" ring false coming from a politician who simultaneously divides the healthcare community into better and worse. They emphasized that if the new Minister of Health were to act "against the interests" of the medical community, it would not constitute reform, but rather further erosion of a "shaky system dominated by distrust and mutual resentment."

• "It's a shame that the new Minister of Health, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, is being nominated in such an atmosphere," the Residents' Agreement emphasizes, referring to the Prime Minister's words. "Nevertheless, like every minister, we give the credit of trust," the young doctors declare, adding that they are counting on a substantive dialogue with the ministry.
  

• "She's an effective manager. (...) However, there are many areas that need to be improved, and the two years left are a short time (...) That's not much time to implement deeper reform," Krystyna Ptok, chairwoman of the National Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives , says of the new Minister of Health, Jolanta Sobierańska. Meanwhile, the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives believes the change brings new opportunities.

  
• - We perceive the very strong words of Prime Minister Donald Tusk on depoliticization and changing the role of the Ministry of Health to a more professional one as a good signal - says Marek Tomków, president of the Supreme Pharmaceutical Council .
  
• "The Prime Minister's announcement to staff the ministry with specialists gives hope for a more stable approach based on long-term planning. We count on cooperation from our community. We need well-thought-out reforms in the field of rehabilitation," commented Dr. Tomasz Dybek , president of the National Council of Physiotherapists, on the change in the position of Minister of Health.

• "We are pleased that the Ministry of Health is being staffed by individuals with expert approaches and professional experience," emphasizes Monika Pintal-Ślimak, president of the National Council of Laboratory Diagnosticians. She also notes that currently four deputy ministers come from medical professions. "This is the right and necessary direction that should be continued," she says.
  

Political background versus management experience

There were also opinions from various political sides:

• Marcelina Zawisza (Razem) strongly criticizes the new minister for her support of privatization. "I think this clearly demonstrates the direction the healthcare system should take. Not additional funding, but changes to the structure of hospitals and their ownership," says Marcelina Zawisza (Razem) about the appointment of the new Minister of Health.
  
• "I think the new health minister knows the system very well. We will be closely monitoring its development," says Janusz Cieszyński , former deputy health minister and digital affairs minister in the Law and Justice government.

• The Left believes it's difficult to operate in the Ministry of Health without political support. "I'm rooting for the Minister, but she'll need a fast-track communication channel with Minister Andrzej Domański regarding finances," Anna Maria Żukowska , chairwoman of the Left's Coalition Parliamentary Club, told Rynek Zdrowia.
  
• Former Health Minister Marek Balicki also commented that the ministry should be headed by a politician. "Healthcare will always be political because it is financed from public funds. It's an illusion to assume that handing the ministry over to technocrats will solve the problems. This is a ministry that needs a politician," says former Health Minister Marek Balicki.
  

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