Tusk gives health ministry Tuesday deadline to end VIP queues and excessive doctor pay, or face personnel changes
Prime Minister Donald Tusk demanded systemic reforms from the health ministry and NFZ by Tuesday, threatening personnel changes if recommendations to end VIP lounges, queue-jumping, and pay abuses are not delivered.
The ultimatum
At a press conference on Friday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk set a Tuesday deadline for the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund (NFZ) to present precise recommendations addressing what he called "the most outrageous practices" in Polish healthcare. The move follows revelations of irregularities at Warsaw's Southern Hospital, including VIP lounges and queue-jumping, exposed by whistleblower Dr. Emil Jędrzejewski.
If I do not receive satisfactory, precise recommendations by Tuesday, I will make appropriate decisions on Wednesday, including personnel ones.
Tusk stressed that eliminating abuses is in the common interest, including that of doctors, and appealed to the medical community for cooperation rather than confrontation.
Three systemic problems
The prime minister identified three areas requiring immediate action: VIP lounges in hospitals, bypassing queues for specialist appointments, and extremely high earnings of some doctors. He said access to public healthcare must be equal and based on registration order, not connections.
The atmosphere will be unbearable if it turns out more and more often that some earn huge millions because they abuse this system.
Tusk acknowledged doctors' right to high pay but insisted the system must be fixed to prevent exploitation.
Central e-registration acceleration
A key solution is the central e-registration system, which Tusk ordered to be operational by the end of the year at the latest. Currently, it covers only cardiology, mammography, and cytology (including HPV tests). From 1 August 2026, it will expand to eight more specialties, including angiology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, hepatology, immunology, nephrology, neonatology, and pulmonology. The original full rollout was planned for the end of 2029.
The central registration, which will take away control over the queue from those who want to bypass it, is something we can implement faster than planned. So an end to VIP lounges, an end to notebooks and queue-jumping, and an end to unfair pay peaks resulting from system flaws and the greed of some.
- Tusk announces ultimatum and demands recommendations by Tuesday.
- Deadline for health ministry and NFZ to deliver reform proposals.
- Possible personnel decisions if recommendations are unsatisfactory.
- E-registration expands to eight more specialist areas.
- Target date for full central e-registration launch.
- Original planned completion date for full e-registration.
Defence of the health minister
Tusk defended Health Minister Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, calling her apolitical and non-partisan status an asset. He said her competence is unquestionable and that she had no influence over the Southern Hospital scandal. The minister, he noted, is working on a cautious project to rationalise hospital care in Poland.
Next steps
The health ministry and NFZ, led by Filip Nowak, must deliver recommendations by Tuesday. If they fail, personnel decisions will follow on Wednesday. The government also aims to shorten the e-registration timeline by three years, with full transparency in specialist appointment queues expected by the end of 2026.
