Dr Szułdrzyński: Polish health care devastated after two years of pandemic, now another challenge

Two years of the pandemic are behind us. According to Dr. Konstanty Szułdrzyński, the Polish health care system was materially and psychologically devastated at that time. “Now he has to face another great challenge: taking care of millions of new patients from Ukraine,” says the head of the Extracorporeal Therapies Center at the University Hospital in Krakow. In his opinion, many health care workers are long gone abroad for endurance, but in the face of a humanitarian crisis, it is easier to summon the last of their strength.

1. Since the beginning of Our Country’s aggression against Ukraine, nearly 2,5 million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland
2. This poses several serious challenges for the Polish health care system
3. Let us remember that the Polish health care system is devastated after two years of a pandemic, says Dr. Konstanty Szułdrzyński
4. It is not only about material devastation, wear and tear of hospitals and equipment, but also psychological exhaustion of medical staff.
5. People are terribly tired. Another mobilization will simply be difficult, adds Szułdrzyński
6. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Polish health service in a difficult moment

According to Szułdrzyński, there are at least several challenges for the Polish health care system – related to the influx of several million refugees from Ukraine to Poland.

—The first challenge is that we just grew in population. Most of them are women with children, so this will mainly be a burden for Primary Healthcare (POZ). The second problem is that we have a huge health debt after COVID-19. We have to eliminate it, so the additional burden that comes with the influx of so many people is just additional work to be done. The third thing is that the Polish health care system suffers from underfunding, too little staff, too little logistical and administrative support, as well as too little computerization, and the language barrier and time needed to communicate with foreigners – they are very burdensome – he stressed expert.

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In his opinion, apart from POZs, attention should be paid to patients relocated to Poland for chronic treatment. These are, for example, oncological patients – both children and adults.

Necessary psychiatric care

Another challenge is to provide adequate psychiatric care in connection with the war trauma.

—Psychiatry is very much language-based. The language barrier will therefore be a big challenge. However, many doctors from Ukraine come to Poland. We have already employed such people in our hospital. We also need to help Ukrainian colleagues not to lose touch with the profession, because later, when they have to return to their homeland, they will cease to be valuable specialists. They must have contact with the profession, with the patient. (…) Another problem is that there are certain diseases whose frequency in the Ukrainian population is greater than in Poland. It goes, among others measles, or the frequent occurrence of tuberculosis in all post-Soviet countries – except the Baltic states, often in drug-resistant form – said Dr. Szułdrzyński.

He added that due to the influx of so many people to Poland, there are also some opportunities.

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—Some of these people will stay in Poland because they will have nowhere to return to. This is the harsh reality of the war. We currently have a huge demographic catastrophe in Poland. And women come to Poland with young children who can stay and “fill the generation gap”. Ukrainians, after all, are people much closer to us culturally than any other emigration that has been in Europe so far – he emphasized.

Difficult adaptation of workers from Ukraine

In its opinion, the benefits for the health care system – in the form of employing nurses, orderlies or hospital administration employees – will come with a considerable delay. The burdens, on the other hand, in connection with such a massive emigration of Ukrainians, will come and come immediately, so they need to be dealt with.

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—I treat the cultural, economic and civilization aspirations of Ukrainians with great respect, but it must be remembered that Ukraine was an extremely corrupt country. This also applied to medical education. People who come to us talked about passing exams for money. In addition, medicine there was at the same level as in our country 30 years ago, when for a doctor, for example, for an operation – money was given. Adapting these people to our conditions will also continue. So first we will bear heavy burdens, and only then will we have some benefit from it. We should also remember that the Polish health protection system is devastated after two years of a pandemic – he added.

Polish health care devastated

He mentioned, among others material devastation, wear and tear and destruction of hospitals by making mucus, disinfecting everything, incl. devices, e.g. for ultrasound, thousands of other things combined with tons of disinfectants. He also talked about psychological devastation. He stressed that people are “completely fed up”.

—And not because they were offended, but because they were terribly tired. Another mobilization will simply be difficult. (…) The situation is so different that this mobilization is somewhat different. Not against the backdrop of a natural disaster such as the coronavirus, but against the backdrop of empathy or humanitarianism. Then it’s easier to find motivation, but everything has its limits, ”he said.

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According to Szułdrzyński, the campaign of vaccinating children against various diseases will have to be organized mainly in schools.

—First you have to do it in POZ. It used to be that the compulsory vaccination program was continued by schools – hygienists and school nurses. This is not working well at the moment, but it is also a time to come back to it. This division in schools, however, is virtually non-existent, he summed up.

Author: Tomasz Więcławski (PAP).

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