Civic Platform MP Małgorzata Pępek receives hospital test after 3‑week wait while normal patients queue 23 months

A privilege that bypassed the queue

On 22 February 2025, Civic Platform MP Małgorzata Pępek underwent a gastroscopy at the hospital in Żywiec. She was registered by a midwife working on the obstetrics ward – also a Civic Platform member – and waited three weeks for the appointment. Normally, patients wait 23 months for the same examination. Pępek later said she had asked her colleague simply to register her because she lacked time to come to the hospital in person, and that she paid health insurance contributions.

Reaction from the hospital and the MP

After the hospital’s internal controls discovered the breach, Pępek’s parliamentary office received a formal letter. The hospital stated that, under the principle of equal treatment, every patient must be registered according to the waiting list and that only a doctor could decide on an earlier date based on medical condition – conditions that did not exist in this case. The examination was not billed to the National Health Fund. Pępek insisted she had not tried to jump the queue, saying

I came politely. That’s all.

She added that she only learned about the long queues afterward and would have done the test privately had she known, adding

I would have done the test privately and thanked them, there would be no problem.

She also claimed that after the test the midwife was called in by the hospital director and threatened with dismissal.

Political fallout and past promises

Razem MP Marcelina Zawisza pointed out that Pępek had voted against a 2026 budget amendment that would have increased healthcare funding by 23 billion PLN.

This is the height of insolence. They create an underfunded system where people have to wait in long queues, and they themselves pull such stunts!

Government spokesman Adam Szłapka told Polsat News that Pępek would have to explain the situation precisely and that consequences would follow.

In no way do I defend such situations. … every such case must be explained.

Opposition MP Jarosław Sachajko demanded that the names of politicians who receive privileged treatment in healthcare be made public. In 2019, Pępek herself had criticised hospital waiting times and promised to cut them to a maximum of 21 days.

Wider context of KO healthcare scandals

The case comes amid a separate scandal involving the Southern Hospital in Warsaw, where a Civic Platform councilor and coordinator of the emergency department, Dawid Kacprzyk, earned 1.6 million PLN in 2025 and allegedly ran a “VIP lounge” where party colleagues were seen without delay. That incident, together with the Żywiec case, has intensified accusations that Civic Platform politicians treat public healthcare as a personal privilege.