PPOZ: Who is able to leave the house, has no contraindications to wearing a mask

The health ministry tightens the sanitary regime and restores the obligation to wear masks in places where it has not been obligatory for several weeks. At the same time, many people ask doctors for a medical certificate that they have health contraindications for wearing masks. Meanwhile, doctors are alarming: the exemption from the obligation to wear the mask must be due to the state of health, not the fact that someone has a certificate!

– In accordance with the provision in the Regulation of the Minister of Health, contraindications result from the patient’s state of health, and not from the certificate. Therefore, we would like to inform you again that we do not issue certificates of contraindications for wearing masks! – say doctors who belong to the Alliance of Healthcare Employers.

Visible breathing problems are relieved from the mask

– Our position at the beginning of the pandemic in this regard has not changed – we do not issue such certificates, because if the person is able to leave the house, there are no contraindications for the mask. The ministry acceded to this position and repealed in the Ordinance of August 6 the provision on the planned issuance of such certificates – informs Bożena Janicka, president of the PPOZ.

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The obligation to cover the nose and mouth in public came into force with the declaration of the epidemic. Children under 4 were exempted from it; people unable to cover their mouth and nose alone, and patients with severe, visible difficulty in breathing.

Shortly after the initial publication of the draft Ministry of Health Regulation, patients with asthma began to visit primary health care facilities in large numbers, demanding the issuance of medical certificates exempting them from the obligation to wear protective masks!

Patients with asthma should especially protect the respiratory tract

– Many people misread the new regulations, from which it is clear that only small children (up to 4 years of age), people with disabilities, unable to take care of themselves and suffering from shortness of breath, whose mask would make it impossible to breathe, are exempt from the obligation to cover their mouths and nose. The others, and especially patients with asthma, lung diseases (e.g. COPD) or heart diseases, should exceptionally protect the respiratory tract, because they are the most vulnerable to severe complications related to coronavirus infection, Bożena Janicka informed at the time.

With the introduction of subsequent stages of easing the restrictions, the masks began to disappear from open spaces. This obligation, despite warnings from epidemiologists and sanitary services, was disregarded in closed institutions (including shops) and in places of larger crowds (marketplaces). The recent increase in the incidence of the disease throughout the country forced the government to return to restrictions, and above all to the need to wear masks (in the “red” zones – everywhere!). Despite earlier announcements, in the Ordinance of August 6, the Minister of Health repealed the provision on the issuing by doctors of certificates of contraindications to wearing masks.

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– Our position on this matter from April this year. has not changed. Pursuant to the provision in the Regulation of the Minister of Health, contraindications result from the patient’s state of health, and not from the certificate. Therefore, we would like to inform you again that we do not issue certificates of contraindications for wearing masks! – say the PPOZ doctors.

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2. Why should everyone wear face masks? Scientists explain
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