Political commotion erupted last week after the ruling Civic Platform (PO) party proposed that all public hospitals be transformed into commercial companies. According to the plan, local governments would take control of the hospitals and be given full autonomy in managing them.

"Local governments would be the best managers for the hospitals," said Zbigniew Chlebowski, the head of PO's parliamentary club.

Opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) claimed that PO was attempting a backdoor privatization of the public health system. PiS members suggested that PO had lied to society when it ruled out wholesale privatization of the health service during the 2007 election campaign.

Przemysław Gosiewski, the head of PiS' parliamentary club, warned that the "hospitals could be sold too cheaply." He also noted that former PO member Beata Sawicka was suspected last year of involvement in a plot to defraud the state through hospital privatization.

Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad replied to the accusations in an interview with RMF FM radio, saying, "an election campaign has its own rules." Meanwhile, Chlebowski stressed that the local governments would not privatize hospitals for fear of losing the support of their constituencies.

PO's coalition partner, the Polish Peasants' Party, said it had been taken by surprise but could support the idea in principle, especially if the hospitals' debts were settled. The proposal will be discussed by Sejm committees this week.

PiS was not alone in its criticism of the plan. "This kind of obligatory transformation would not be a good solution since some hospitals function well and there is no point in forcing them to restructure," Dariusz Sarti, an expert at the Confederation of Polish Employers (KPP) told WBJ.

A GfK Polonia survey published last week by Rzeczpospolita daily showed that 55 percent of the public opposed the privatization of hospitals.