POLAND: Polish prime minister says Poland can't afford striking doctors' pay claims

The Polish prime minister says that if his government was to pay the amount doctors asking, it would crash the country's finances. On Monday (May 21) Polish doctors launched an open-ended strike, demanding major pay raises and more government spending on health. Around one third of Poland's hospitals support the strike by the All-Polish Physicians' Trade Union (OZZL) aimed at gaining a significant salary increase. Striking physicians are continuing to provide emergency coverage but refuse to perform non-urgent medical services. In some children's hospitals the action has been limited to a one-hour work stoppage per day. Polish prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Poland cannot afford what the doctors are asking. "...that is a total rise in wages of eleven billion zloty this year, then this is an impossible task and I don't have that ability. Accepting these terms would mean a complete crash of the public finances plan in relation to our agreements with the European Union," he said. But Kaczynski indicated there could be pay rises in the future. "When it comes to plans for the upcoming years, the plans which can be made known to our society, predict a situation in which for various reasons wages will be rising, but I repeat there will be a rise in the future due to the increase in state medical insurance costs and the compression of the hospital network - due to only these circumstances," he said. The basic hourly rate for Polish doctors is 9.9 PLZ (2.67 euro), resulting in a salary of 1,500 PLZ (399 euro) a month. The going rate for a cleaner in Warsaw is around 12 PLZ an hour. The OZZL is campaigning for significant pay rises. The union claims that low wages have led to a brain drain of doctors who left Poland for better paid work abroad after the country joined the European Union in 2004.

ITN Source | May 22, 2007

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