East News

Polish Health Minister Bartosz Arłukowicz, whose term in office began in November, has gotten off to a rather unfortuitous start.

At the beginning of the year a new law governing prescriptions and medication reimbursement came into force. The law has resulted in widespread confusion among patients, doctors and pharmacists.

The law requires that a patient’s eligibility for receiving state reimbursements for medication be verified. But a lack of agreement on how the verification process is to work has meant that many patients have been forced to pay the full price for drugs they would normally receive at a discount. Some of the medications can cost thousands of złoty.

The opposition Law and Justice party has already announced it will submit a motion of no confidence concerning Mr Arłukowicz. As WBJ went to press, however, it was not yet entirely clear whether such a motion would have any chance of success.

Meanwhile, it emerged that the reimbursement issue may not be the only major problem on the health minister’s plate. Media attention has recently focused on a planned IT program for the health-care services that may fall flat.

The zł.712 million project was expected to revolutionize Poland’s health-care system by enabling patients to register online and by giving doctors online access to patients’ medical data. However, implementation has been delayed and investigators have found irregularities in the tender procedure.

Born in 1971, in Resko, Northern Poland, Mr Arłukowicz studied medicine at the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin. He subsequently worked in a number of public health-care facilities and also set up his own practice.

Mr Arłukowicz has been active in politics since the early 2000s, having been elected to Szczecin’s City Council (with support from the Democratic Left Alliance) in 2002 and the Polish Parliament (from the Left and Democrats coalition list) in 2007.

In May 2011, Mr Arłukowicz became a secretary of state in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and PM Tusk's plenipotentiary for tackling social exclusion. At that time, he also joined the ruling Civic Platform party's parliamentary caucus.