“We have not been paid for the months of October and November, despite the deadline specified in the contracts,” wrote the doctors of the hospital in Świętokrzysławice to the prime minister. The facility explains that it cannot resolve the debt because its recovery plan is based on this.
Doctors at the Świętokrzysław District Hospital in Silesia asked Prime Minister Donald Tusk to intervene. As they claim in the letter sent on Monday, the authorities of this facility do not want to talk to them, and the mayor does not respond to their requests for help.
“We have not received payment for the months of October and November, despite the expiration of the period specified in the contracts,” the letter to the prime minister said.
We spoke to several doctors who have experienced this situation. They asked that his name be disclosed.
– Today we managed to talk to the head of the hospital, but it did not give any results. We realized they couldn't take us back. They seem to be looking for a solution, but right now we just know we won't get the outstanding money. – they say
As they wrote to the prime minister, the debt concerns 300 doctors who work at the Świętochołowice facility under civil rights contracts. The doctors knew that the hospital was in a terrible condition for a long time, but, as they assure, no one informed them that a rehabilitation plan was being developed at their expense.
Recovery process
December has begun. The doctors of the hospital named after Švejtohlovice have been working without pay for the third month. They were used to it. “The salary was paid one month late,” they say. – We should have called and asked for money, but we knew that eventually it would be available. The medical director also asked us to do more shifts in November. Well, we got it. We did not think that we would work for free.
And suddenly, on December 9, the hospital announced that rehabilitation (from “sanatio”, Latin “healing”) had begun. The economic court took over the management of the hospital. The hospital can still heal, but it doesn't solve anything and needs to be rebuilt. In turn, the law protects him from creditors. Also from the doctors to whom he owes wages. – Nothing protects us – say the doctors. They have to pay taxes on the income they did not receive.
They asked their lawyer friends about it. – They advised whether we are on the list of lenders or not. There is nothing else to do. Maybe after three years, because the restructuring process continues for so long, we will receive these loans, but it is not known – they say. – Sanitary protocol is a state within a state. We have been robbed in the eyes of the law, they add. They earn money in other places too, but for some, the hospital in Švejtohlovice was the main source of income.
– We do not receive any money for the work done, not even an advance, and we do not have the opportunity to demand it. We have individual businesses. We've paid taxes on invoices, we've got families, we've got obligations, we've got debts – they're nervous.
“We earned this money with honest work and hard work”
Dominika Maciejczyk, a spokeswoman for the hospital in Świętokrzysławice, admits that the institution “for official reasons cannot pay the salaries of some people who provide medical services to the hospital, that is, colleagues based on civil contracts and mandate contracts, which will be paid in November. “.
This is Article 252(1). Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Restructuring” from the day of the opening of the contract acceleration case until the day of their end or the final date of the decision to stop production of the accelerated agreement, the debtor or the manager cannot offer benefits. arising from receivables covered in accordance with the procedure established by law.”.
600 people work in the hospital. Half of them have a labor contract. In the doctors' letter to the Prime Minister, we read that the salaries of 300 other people have been frozen. The hospital did not tell us the number of doctors and the amount involved.
Civil law contracts are available for staff in all hospital wards, in clinics, i.e. in the so-called primary care (POS) facilities, and in night and holiday shifts, i.e. night care (NPL).
The doctors we talked to work at NPL. There is no work there at all. Thus, they all remained without salary for two months.
“It's a difficult job,” they say. -Patients come with long-standing health problems, but do not go to the family doctor, because they do not want to wait in front of specialists. We visit homes in dangerous environments and people who abuse alcohol and drugs. We earned this money with honest and hard work, they say.
Do the clinic's doctors get paid in advance?
The hospital insists it has not notified anyone other than the six nurses who were laid off in October because of the restructuring. Only the work structure has changed.
– Our contracts were terminated at the end of December, and it was proposed to conclude a contract with a foreign company, which will be an intermediary in night and weekend shifts in the hospital from January, – say the doctors of the NPL.
Such a proposal was made by the doctors. One of them told us that despite the repairs, the hospital promised them to return the loan. – They offered us a contract. If we stay, we will receive outstanding wages in advance until the end of January, he says.
The doctors showed this injustice in a letter to the Prime Minister. We asked the hospital if this is true. Why were doctors who work at night and on holidays treated worse than daytime doctors? We did not receive an answer.
The three-billion-dollar kindergarten caused the most damage
Świętochłowice is one of the smallest, most populous and poorest cities with district rights in Poland. In 2019, they renovated the maternity ward in the only hospital – at the cost of 3 billion PLN and added 800,000 PLN to the EU subsidy. Last year, the city planned to close it because it caused more losses. In a statement sent to the media, authorities assure that repair programs have been implemented and strictly followed at the facility, but to no avail.
“The current situation of district hospitals in Poland, including ZOZ Świetochłowice, is the result of the problematic mechanism of inadequate financing of medical services by the National Health Fund, which has been increasing for years. Despite the best intentions, the hospital here is not able to balance itself – when that the cost of its annual maintenance and salary increase with the indexation of the cost of services by the Republic's Health Fund do not go at the same time, the hospital, like many other regional hospitals announced such a threat. The announced reforms in the health care system have not taken place, but are deepening. The month-by-month deficit meant that the only way to solve the problem, as in the case of other institutions, which took place on December 9 of this year, was to start the restructuring process. – explains the representative of the institution.
After the announcement of the renovation of the hospital, the president of Švejtohlovice, Daniel Beger, also appealed to the prime minister. “Despite the many efforts that have been made to provide continuous medical care to the residents of Švejtohlovice and its surrounding areas, today we are on the verge of a situation where without the help of the state we will be forced to limit the provision of medical services,” he wrote. u.
According to the president, the city is not able to cover the damage to the hospital. – Especially in the context of the reduction of the so-called “state tax”, which last year amounted to 30 million PLON. PLN, at the moment, only 9.2 mln. The difference and the lack of more than PLN 20 million make it impossible to cover the hospital's budget shortfall.
As we have learned from the city government, the prime minister has not yet responded to the appeal of the authorities of Shveitokhlovice.
At night, instead of two doctors, there will be one
Is the hospital at risk of closing departments?
– In terms of patient protection, the quality of medical services and the number of contracts with the Health Fund will not change, the spokesperson of the institution assures.
What does the intervention of a private company change in the organization of night and holiday shifts? The hospital did not comment on this.
– Previously, two doctors on duty, one pediatrician and one intern doctor treated adults here, – the doctors of the NPL told us. – Now everyone is admitted by a pediatrician or an internist. Instead of two doctors, there will be one doctor – they say.
Main photo source: GoogleMaps
