The Polish Association of Private Hospitals (OSSP) sent a letter to the Minister of Health, Izabela Leszczyny, concerning the inequalities of legal protection granted to medical doctors as public servants.
In light of the current provisions, physicians practicing in entities that have not entered into contracts for the provision of healthcare services with the National Health Fund are deprived of protection. Representatives of other medical professions have been granted criminal legal protection, regardless of how the medical entity in which they are employed is financed.
As part of its activities, OSSP focuses on activities aimed at equal treatment of medical entities and medical staff operating in the healthcare sector, in particular on aligning the rights and obligations of private and public sector entities. One of the association’s objectives is therefore to eliminate disparities in treatment between medical entities financed by contracts with the National Health Fund and those operating on a commercial basis. The disproportions observed concern only the professional group of doctors, and the only criterion that differentiates them by granting them a different degree of legal protection in the performance of their duties is the method of financing medical activities.
This issue is extremely important in view of the growing number of press reports of violent assaults on medical staff, which take not only verbal but also physical forms. It should be noted that, at present, the private healthcare system complements the public healthcare system. It’s also important to note that over 63% of doctors working directly with patients are women, making them statistically more likely to be at risk than male doctors.
