Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the changes were designed to stop what he called abuse of the National Health Fund (NFZ), which finances Poland's public healthcare system.
He cited cases including an orthopaedic surgeon from Grójec, east-central Poland, who earned PLN 3.2 million (EUR 740,000) in a year and a doctor from the northern town of Braniewo who reported working 72 hours in a single day.
Under the plan, doctors working two jobs in the public system could earn up to roughly PLN 70,000 (EUR 16,000) a month before tax, or about PLN 900,000 (EUR 207,000) a year—a level Tusk described as among the highest in Europe.
Health Minister Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda said the pay cap would apply both to employment and B2B contracts.
It would be set at eight times the minimum wage, rising to 12 for specialists carrying out complex procedures such as transplants, or holding managerial roles in hospitals.
She added that the rules would cover both public and private facilities with NFZ contracts.
Healthcare providers will have six months to bring existing agreements into line with the new rules, though any new ones signed within a month of the law's publication must already comply.
Sobierańska-Grenda said the reform aims to build a healthcare system based on "transparency and patient safety."
Tusk also called on President Karol Nawrocki to sign a separate bill raising excise duty on alcohol, saying the resulting PLN 1.4 billion (EUR 320 million) in revenue would go entirely toward healthcare funding.
The healthcare bills follow reports of irregularities at Warsaw's Południowy Hospital, including a case involving a doctor who earned PLN 1.6 million (EUR 370,000) last year while still in training as an anaesthesiologist.
(ał/gs)
Source: PAP