Polish health care revolt

Some news from Poland-

WARSAW (AFP) - Poland's prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski on Sunday suggested a referendum on the privatisation of health care, two weeks into a strike by hospital doctors seeking better salaries.

"It is only a plan, but the question is important and it must be put," Kaczynski told journalists.

Meeting the wage demands of the doctors would, he said, "be equivalent to ruining public finances, which would be totally irresponsible.

"In this situation, you have to put the fundamental question to the Poles and decide according to their response."

Doctors have been on strike in a third of the country's 600 hospitals since May 21, providing emergency cover only, said Krzysztof Bukiel, head of the OZZL doctors' union that organised the strike.

They make a basic salary of 9.9 zlotys an hour -- meaning a take-home pay of just 1,500 zlotys (399 euros, 535 dollars) a month.

In contrast, the going rate for a cleaner in Warsaw is around 12 zlotys an hour.

The OZZL is campaigning for large pay rises, for example demanding 7,500 zlotys a month for specialists.

In a fair world, everyone would have the healthcare they need. Unfortunately the idea, of centralizing or nationalizing this service is no answer. If the government is going to insure everyone, healthcare will always be at the whim of politics and rationing(bureaucrats saying we have this amount for this type of care. Which will almost certainly never be enough, causing waits for healthcare services including vital surgery) just to mention two problems. Here's an article on Polish healthcare. A perfect healthcare system is an ideal, but making it bad for everyone but the super rich is not a solution but a disaster.

Disclosure- TFM has worked in healthcare jobs for over 20 years. By the way I don't side with the Polish doctors. Their strike is certain to have adverse effects for some patients.

Linked to- Bullwinkle, Third World County,