Waldemar Malinowski on the new Minister of Health: she is a practitioner, so we will be able to communicate more easily

• During the government reshuffle, Prime Minister Donald Tusk dismissed Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna
• Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, president of the company Szpitale Pomorskie, took over the reins of the ministry.
• - He 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.

On July 23, Prime Minister Donald Tusk dismissed the current Minister of Health, Izabela Leszczyna. Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, president of the company Szpitale Pomorskie, became the new minister.

- The new Minister 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, assesses the change in the position of head of the Ministry of Health in an interview with Rynek Zdrowia.

He emphasizes that the union is always open to conversation, including with the new head of the Ministry of Health. "It's hard for us to imagine any reform taking place without our union or the Association of Polish Counties," he emphasizes.

He adds that a meeting between their union and the ministry's management has already been scheduled for July 31, so he hopes it will be an opportunity to talk to the new minister.

According to him, the new minister's actions must go beyond just hospital reform. As he says, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, as a practitioner, knows exactly what's wrong and needs fixing when it comes to hospital operations, but she's also familiar with other areas that are part of the system.

"The second important issue concerns money. It's impossible without it, because if there are no additional funds, we'll have a very large hole in hospital budgets this year," Waldemar Malinowski points out.

- If the Minister was the director of the hospital, she would know these problems very well - she assesses and emphasizes that despite the change in the position of the head of the Ministry of Health, the union hopes that cooperation and the development of common solutions will be possible immediately.

One of the first challenges is the bill concerning hospital reform, on which the parliamentary health committee began work on Wednesday.

- We need to convince the president to sign it, and that is a difficult task, and if the president signs it, we need to convince the founding bodies to accept these transformations - he announces.

He estimates that organizing the system and legal acts relating to the healthcare system will also be a challenge.

"There should be one systemic law, but we have an administrative mess, with a series of provisions in different laws. Therefore, the legal environment needs to be sorted out," he explains.