A young specialist, Łukasz Jankowski, became the new president of the Supreme Medical Council. The list of changes that, in his opinion, should take place, includes, among others the one about the necessity to “disenchant” the medical profession. “I had to convince many colleagues to my vision, especially the older ones, but my vision of the future won,” he says in an interview with Medonet.
- Łukasz Jankowski replaced prof. Andrzej Matyja, who held this position since 2018.
- Jankowski works at the Clinic of Transplantation Medicine, Nephrology and Internal Diseases in Warsaw. Two years ago he completed his specialization in nephrology
- The new president was the informal leader in the protest of resident doctors. The strike lasted from October 2, 2017 to February 8, 2018.
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
Klaudia Torchała, Medonet: Why do doctors need professional self-government?
Łukasz Jankowski, president of the Supreme Medical Council: It’s like asking a blacksmith what he needs the tongs. The self-government is a medical tool to influence decision-makers, to educate, to care for the dignity of the profession and the quality of the profession. We have this tool that connects us all – 160 thousand. practicing doctors in Poland. And I treat local government as such a tool that has great potential.
Do you believe in superstitions?
Nie.
I thought so, because on Friday, May 13 this year. was a very happy day for you, wasn’t it?
Yes. It was a happy date, but the elections are not only about happiness. I won with a fairly large advantage of 252 to 192. I am prepared to perform this function, because I already have four years of experience as the president of the Warsaw Regional Medical Council.
Are you not afraid, however, that it will be difficult to reconcile professional duties? You are a very young doctor. Two years ago you finished your specialization …
Indeed, I suspended my medical activities for a while. These first weeks are always difficult in a new institution. Needed to make organizational changes and understand the situation. However, I do not intend to become just an activist permanently. I really get a lot of satisfaction from being a doctor. This allows me to be up to date with what is happening in the health care system. I think I need two or three months to get my situation in the House. It may not be possible to return to work full-time, but I want to continue working as a doctor.
The rest of the text below the video material.
It’s probably a generational change in the chair of the president of the NRL? Need, in medical terms, fresh blood?
I think there is a need for a different view of the role that local government should play. Two visions of self-government have emerged, not even two candidates. “Self-government of the future” and the vision of my opponent, “Our self-government”. The former won. This means that we see potential for local government and we want to openly look to the future. Of course, without destroying what has been achieved so far.
And is this not a bit of a youthful faith that you will be able to change the existing order? Perhaps the wake passes over time when you have to deal with the system?
I have the privilege of being referred to forever as a young doctor. The media has already labeled me the ex-president. I also came across the term that I am a freshly fledged specialist, although two years after the specialization. Yes, I am a representative of the young generation, but most of all a representative of a new, open way of thinking about the world. I wanted to infect the delegates with this. It worked. I infected people of all ages, even retired doctors, who also see the need for change and openness. An important question was the question about the talks with the Minister of Health. While my opponent declared that he would not talk to him because the talks do not make sense, I feel that we should always be open to dialogue, even the difficult one and the one that may be façade. I think it was the culture of openness and directness that won.
The first meeting with the head of the Ministry of Health is already behind you? Do you feel the support?
I cannot speak of support, but we have outlined a few topics that connect us. Such a topic is the no-fault system, but the ministry of thought, citing political limitations, about a system other than the one that doctors and Polish patients dream of. We are also divided by the act on the minimum wage in health care. It combines the approach to education and the state specialization examination. For example, the minister declared his will to abolish the oral examination, which we are striving for as a local government. We are also united by our approach to certain groups. We pay attention to doctors with disabilities. This topic interested the minister. We will work in this direction. The NRL will appoint an advocate for doctors with disabilities. More fields of cooperation and fields are opening up on which we will not agree.
So the minimum wages are still a bone of contention between doctors and Miodowa?
Yes. The second such topic is the deregulation of the medical profession by introducing a different option to practice a profession than the right to practice a medical profession for medics from beyond the eastern border. In our opinion, this is a deregulation of the profession, but here there is a light in the form of the will to create a joint team. He would work on regulating this issue. The point is that a doctor in Poland should practice only on the basis of the right to practice. I hope that such a team will be formed in the coming weeks.
Setting up a team and working on specific topics often takes months or even years. Is quick action needed here, given the unique war situation in Ukraine?
Please take into account that the contact with the ministry so far can be described as extremely rough, therefore the declaration of the possibility of establishing a joint team is perceived by us as a hand extended in this difficult situation, also on our part, and an attempt to break the existing impasse. We are also open to any help for doctors who would like to work in Poland and this is a certain novelty. Here we are in favor of a system solution.
What exactly do you mean?
We will strive to introduce adaptation internships. They would last from 6 to 12 months. We could also train these doctors in Polish and finish it all with an exam. We, like the Ministry of Health, want a fully qualified doctor with a confirmed knowledge of the Polish language and familiar with the Polish health care system at the bedside of the patient, and this cannot be done on the basis of a certificate issued to him by the ministry, but it is possible do an annual internship. The point here is to civilize these conditions. The ministry claims that it has so far spent 1,5-2 thousand zlotys for doctors from outside the EU. such certificates. Of course, these are not only Ukrainians. In the whole mass of 160 thousand. practicing doctors is not much.
Why is it necessary to improve the image of a doctor in Poland? You say loudly that you have the right to emotions, bad days. You are not gods. This is shown in the three-minute film with the actor Tomasz Kot “I am a doctor, I am a human”. It was also created thanks to you.
Image is very important. It affects the doctor-patient relationship and the effects of treatment. After all, we know that not only the doctor is responsible for treatment, but the entire therapeutic team, that it is not only drugs that heal, but, in a sense, the space in which we are located. We want to disenchant the doctor’s image a bit. We were brought up in a patriarchal system in which the ex cathedra physician imposed solutions on the patient. We already look at this system a bit differently. Our role is to be the patient’s health advisor and share our knowledge. We want to show that we do important social work, but we are also human. If we gain understanding, trust will also be born from it. This is somewhat related to the “no-judge” system. We are human. We have the right to make mistakes, we do not want to commit them at all, but why are we deprived of this right?
Will you have the strength to restore health to this system?
We started with the threat of eternal youth due to a certain strategy of my opponents, but this youth has its advantages. I will use the accompanying assets, i.e. commitment and energy. It won’t work without the patients. You can definitely feel the emotion in the air caused by the change in the environment. Change is difficult. For a moment I felt like Don Quixote, but that feeling passed quickly.
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