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Kopacz puts health at heart of election campaign

PR dla Zagranicy
Jo Harper 14.07.2015 17:59
The public purse will fund not only financially ailing medical institutions, but also highly specialised hospitals, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting.
PM Ewa Kopacz (C), Economy Minister Janusz Piechociński (R) and Minister of Defence Tomasz Siemoniak (L) at a sitting of the Council of Ministers on 14 July. Photo: PAP/Paweł SupernakPM Ewa Kopacz (C), Economy Minister Janusz Piechociński (R) and Minister of Defence Tomasz Siemoniak (L) at a sitting of the Council of Ministers on 14 July. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak

Kopacz mentioned four institutions – the Polish Mother's Health Centre, the Children’s Health Centre and the Institute of Mother and Child on Kasprzak Street [all in Warsaw] and the University Children's Hospital in Kraków-Prokocim. All will receive an interest-free loan, the PM said.

Kopacz added that state support would also take the form of higher subsidies for other financially vulnerable hospitals that treat the most seriously ill.

She stressed that such assessment procedures will be assessed again by the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Valuations and would likely be higher.

"This means that their contracts will rise an average of two to six percent. Depending on how many of these highly specialised procedures the hospital performs," the PM said.

On Monday the ministry of health said that a five-year loan for the Mother's Memorial Hospital and Children's Health Centre would be PLN 100 million for each institute and that subsequent tranches would be conditional on implementation by the institutions of restructuring programmes.

Kopacz, whose party, Civic Platform (PO) trails the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) in the polls by about seven percent, was accused on Tuesday by PiS senator, Stanislaw Karczewski, of using the government to conduct PO’s election campaign.

In recent weeks PiS has made various promises to raise public spending on groups in society from which the party is likely to garner most votes at the autumn elections. While sticking to its fiscally conservative image, some critics have argued that Kopacz is also seeking to reach out to older and poorer voters, although perhaps belatedly and not fully convincingly. (jh)

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