Commercialization and Privatization of Hospitals for the Provision of Health Services

Abstract

The access to healthcare is one of the elements that shape a sense of social security among the citizens. In the processes of commercialization and privatization of hospitals, the improvement of efficiency should not cause the deterioration in availability of healthcare services, which may suggest that present actions are heading towards the wrong direction, and may lead to the abuse of public good.

The examination of the provisions of the Act on medical activity, issued on 15th April 2011, should confirm the thesis that the law contains numerous provisions which pose a threat to the equality of access to healthcare services regardless of the financial situation of a citizen, as understood in the article 68, passage 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

It is in particular:

• the lack of hospital network in Poland, therefore the lack of a determined minimal number of healthcare entities secured by public authorities,
• no central minimum of number and distribution of public entities determined, which will make the accessibility to public subjects and certain specializations dependent on local circumstances,
• no guarantee that in a given region all the types of health services will be available,
• no mandatory minimal norms and standards of the number of hospital beds and medical staff per number of patients,
• the initiation of an uncontrolled process of limiting the number of public health subjects,
• the possibility of commercialization, and then total privatization of the hospital,
• the lack of guarantees to ensure the people enjoying health benefits of SPZOZ, which is in the process of liquidation, further uninterrupted health benefits in the given region,
• the possibility of charging patients for the health benefits on the level of healthcare entity in spite of paying health insurance premium,
• insufficient protection of capital companies from possible bankruptcy.