Health Minister Adam Niedzielski announced that healthcare spending will increase to 7 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2027, adding that geriatrics has become a priority specialisation due to the progressive ageing of the population.
The 8th Reporting and Election Session of the Civic Parliament of Seniors was held in Warsaw on Monday. It was attended by the head of the Ministry of Health, Adam Niedzielski.
According to the minister, in Poland in 2050, the proportion of people over 60 years of age will reach 40 %. This will be approximately 14 million people. In addition, almost 70% of the population over 60 is affected by multimorbidity, which is why geriatrics has been identified as a priority specialisation.
Niedzielski estimated that the demand for medical services and medicines will increase in the coming years. Therefore, he assured, government spending on health will increase.
“They will grow to the level of 7% of GDP in 2027, and we are considering here only the minimum level”, announced the head of the Ministry of Health. Currently, this level of spending exceeds 6% of GDP, and 2015 – amounted to 4.5% of GDP.
The Minister of Health thanked the seniors for their responsible attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic. He pointed out that the pandemic period was also a time of health negligence due to limited contact with the health system.
According to Minister Niedzielski, a huge challenge, which also applies to seniors, is to make up for this “health debt”, which should be understood as a return to an increased number of preventive examinations or diagnoses. To this end, limits on access to specialists have been abolished.
Niedzielski also said that the government was also trying to ensure an adequate number of medical staff. He stressed that a guarantee has been given to medics “that they will earn fair money”. He also reminded of the minimum salary arrangements for the medical professions, which guarantees that their salaries will increase at the rate of wage growth in the economy.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński