The industry about the new health minister: “Good idea.” “Tough months ahead”
“The application for Minister Niedzielski’s dismissal was submitted by young doctors, so I think that the candidacy of a young, thirty-something-year-old doctor was a very good idea”, “Her nomination is hope that the months before the elections will not be lost for patients” – these are the opinions of people from the industry who well know the new health minister.
She still works as a doctor, despite being an MP and a mother of four children (the youngest was born during this term of office of the Sejm; she participated in the Sejm sessions almost until the end of her pregnancy, and sometimes she also breastfed during the sessions). Her parliamentary “trademark” is an attempt to repair the dramatic situation in Polish paediatrics. In October 2022, she created the Parliamentary Team for Pediatrics.
– She took up the subject of pediatrics, which no one had done before. This is a difficult topic for several reasons, including collapse in child psychiatry, a dramatic shortage of paediatricians and organizational problems. Nobody has had the courage to move it so far, but the fact is that some pediatric wards are empty for most of the year, while in the infection season they can be overcrowded. This is a difficult topic, because difficult organizational changes are necessary. She had the courage to take it – says Dr. Krzysztof Ostrowski, an internal medicine specialist, chairman of the Parliamentary Patient Committee in the previous term of the Sejm.
The new Minister of Health is praised by Irena Rej, president of the Farmacja Polska Chamber of Commerce, for years one of the most influential people in Polish health care, famous for her harsh statements about (many) health ministers, including Minister Niedzielski. They met while working in the Sejm.
