Warsaw council holds double session on South Hospital scandal as opposition demands deputy mayor resignations

Double session convened

Two sessions of the Warsaw City Council were called for Thursday, 25 June 2026 at the Palace of Culture and Science. The first, an absolutory session starting at 10:00, was to vote on granting a vote of confidence and discharge to Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski for the 2025 budget execution. The second, an extraordinary session requested by the opposition, was dedicated entirely to the scandal at the South Hospital (Szpital Południowy). At both sessions, councillors were to hear the mayor's report on the hospital situation.

Opposition demands resignations

Law and Justice (PiS) councillors opened the session by demanding the dismissal of deputy mayor Tomasz Mencina, who oversees municipal companies. Councillor Tomasz Herbich stated that the scandal was not limited to one hospital or one individual, calling it an affair of the entire Warsaw Civic Coalition (KO) environment. PiS also sought the removal of deputy mayor Renata Kaznowska, responsible for health services, and deputy mayor Aldona Machnowska-Góra, who sat on the hospital's supervisory board.

This was not an affair of one man, it was not an affair of one hospital, but it was an affair of the Warsaw Civic Coalition environment, and above all a way of exercising power that depends on creating a network of business and financial connections between various members of this faction.

Mayor absent, public excluded

PiS councillor Dariusz Figura noted that Mayor Trzaskowski was not present in the chamber at the start of the session. Separately, city guards prevented residents and members of the public from entering the session. Former culture minister Piotr Gliński described the situation as a corrupt, mafia-like system protecting the ruling power.

This is one big octopus, an oligarchic-clientelist system. A demoralized clique that rules the city, also by force and violence. Today you can see dozens of city guards who, instead of performing their duties on the streets of our city, are always here guarding the authorities.

Majority secures confidence vote

Despite opposition from PiS, the Left (Nowa Lewica), and the Miasto Jest Nasze councillors, Trzaskowski was expected to receive the vote of confidence and discharge. The Civic Coalition club holds a majority with 36 councillors, led by Jarosław Szostakowski. PiS has 14 councillors under Dariusz Figura, while the Left-MJN-Wspólne Jutro club has 8 councillors chaired by Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska. Two independent councillors also sit on the council, one from Konfederacja. The Left's Warsaw board decided its councillors would vote against granting discharge, though this would not change the outcome.

Broader political fallout

Adrian Zandberg, leader of the Razem party, called the Warsaw KO structure an octopus run by Marcin Kierwiński, head of the Warsaw KO structures and Minister of Interior and Administration. He accused the ruling party of filling positions with political appointees rather than professionals. Prime Minister Donald Tusk had publicly questioned the credibility of the whistleblower doctor on social media platform X, even before the doctor's scheduled interview with prosecutors on Monday.

Warsaw has been ruled for years by Kierwiński's octopus. Institutions are not managed or supervised by professionals, but are a feeding trough filled by political nominees, party apparatchiks, people placed in positions because they have the right party card.

Investigation background

The scandal erupted after former head of department Dr Emil Jędrzejewski gave an interview alleging that a young doctor without specialization and a Civic Coalition activist, Dawid Kacprzyk, earned 1.5 million złoty at the hospital while coordinating the emergency department. The District Prosecutor's Office questioned the former head of department on 24 June. Prosecutor Piotr Antoni Skiba reported that the witness answered every question with silence. Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek disclosed that there were 12 cases concerning deaths at the hospital, all of which had been discontinued. An extraordinary session of the Ursynów district council was also convened on the same day regarding the hospital situation.