Protesting health workers call for meeting with PM

After spending almost two-and-a-half hours with protesting labour union representatives, Health Minister Konstanty Radziwiłł said that the two main issues raised were increasing spending on healthcare and higher wages.

"I think the answer from our side is meeting these expectations at least in part. The government takes the problems of the healthcare sector very seriously," he said.

Radziwiłł said that labour unions’ demand to urgently increase healthcare spending to 6.8 per cent of GDP "is completely unrealistic". The government plans to gradually increase healthcare spending starting from 2018 and raise it to 6 percent of GDP by 2025.

Radziwiłł also said that expectations about salaries "will be fulfilled in a systematic way."

Labour union representative Jarosław Biliński said after leaving the meeting that healthcare workers were "disappointed".

He said that Radziwiłł did not propose anything new, adding that unionists want to meet Prime Minister Szydło and Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party.

(mol/pk)

Source: PAP