Last Friday, the Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament, rejected a motion to relieve Health Minister Bartosz Arłukowicz of his duties by a razor-thin margin of 232 votes to 220.
The no-confidence vote was brought forward by the largest opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), which claimed that Mr Arłukowicz was carrying out a "terrible health policy."
All of the opposition parties in parliament supported the motion, but it still came up short as the Civic Platform-Polish Peoples' Party coalition effectively defended their minister.

Political games

"Attempts to have Mr Arłukowicz lose his ministerial post are typical political games and not a serious debate about health care," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said just before the vote.
The flaws highlighted by the opposition include long queues in hospitals, financial problems at specialist clinics, higher drug prices and shortages in chemotherapy treatment medicines.
Mr Arłukowicz countered by saying the opposition should not "scare" patients. "I will not allow you to use patients and children in a political debate and to tell patients to be scared," Mr Arłukowicz said in a speech to parliament.

Strong criticism

Bartosz Arłukowicz has been health minister since 2011. He was once a left-leaning politician affiliated with the Democratic Left Alliance but decamped two years ago to join the ruling party.
He received strong criticism at the beginning of last year after a poorly executed prescription-drug reform triggered chaos and protests in the health sector.
In the 2012 Health Barometer survey, which covered nine European countries and the US, Poles proved to be the least satisfied with the health care system in their nation. On a scale of 1 to 10 (worst to best), Poles rated their health care system at 2.6.

Remi Adekoya