Łukasz Jankowski, head of the Polish Chamber of Physicians (NIL), told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Wednesday that doctors' pay had risen steadily in recent years, from what he described as "unbearably low" levels to "decent" salaries today.
He said a gross monthly salary of around PLN 30,000 (EUR 7,000, USD 8,000) would be "adequate" for physicians in Poland but argued that the main problem was "the mismatch between pay and the quality of the healthcare system."
Health Minister Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda on Wednesday unveiled a package of proposed reforms aimed at containing hospital spending, including recommended limits on salary costs within hospital budgets and a proposed pay ceiling of PLN 240 (around EUR 55, USD 65) gross per hour for individual medical workers.
Sobierańska-Grenda said the measures were intended to address widening pay disparities and help hospitals manage labour costs, which she said account for an average of 81 percent of spending financed by the National Health Fund (NFZ).
Jankowski rejected suggestions that doctors' salaries consume the vast majority of hospital budgets, estimating that physicians' pay accounts for 20 percent to 30 percent of hospital spending.
"Those who say hospitals spend 90 percent of their budgets on doctors' salaries are simply not telling the truth," he told Polish Radio 3.
He also backed introducing a 48-hour workweek for doctors after Poland's current opt-out from the European Union's working time rules expires in about 18 months. Under the existing exemption, some physicians work up to 78 hours a week.
On proposals to separate public and private medical practice, Jankowski said the medical community supported restrictions for hospital department heads but warned against a broader ban.
He argued that cooperation with private providers could help reduce waiting times by allowing patients to use public funding for treatment in private clinics.
Poland's parliament last month approved legislation allowing authorities to collect detailed data on the earnings of medical professionals as part of an effort to improve oversight of healthcare spending.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the proposal was prompted in part by reports that a doctor still in specialist training earned about PLN 1.6 million (EUR 380,000, USD 440,000) last year, an unusually high income in Poland.
At the moment, hospitals and clinics provide authorities with anonymized salary data, making it impossible to determine the total income earned by individual doctors working under multiple contracts, according to the government.
Sobierańska-Grenda said in May that her ministry was analyzing measures to limit payroll costs to between 60 percent and 70 percent of hospital budgets.
She said wage costs at some hospitals exceeded the institutions' available funding.
Many doctors in Poland work under civil-law arrangements rather than standard employment contracts, giving them greater flexibility to negotiate pay, particularly in specialties facing staff shortages.
Jankowski has previously said that doctors with around six years of experience who work on contracts earn an average gross monthly income of PLN 20,000 to PLN 30,000.
According to Jankowski, around 600 doctors in Poland earn more than PLN 100,000 (EUR 23,500, USD 27,250) gross per month.
He said the highest-paid physicians are typically specialists in short supply whose services are essential for hospitals to maintain operations.
(pu/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP