The reconstruction of the Military Medical Academy, investments in military hospitals, deficiency of doctors and medical personnel in the army, ways to encourage candidates to service in medical uniforms – the members of the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Social Affairs in the military listened to the information on these issues during a gathering devoted to the concept of forming a medical army component.
Members of the Subcommittee on Social Affairs in the Army took note of the information of the Ministry of National Defence on the concept of creating a medical component of the Armed Forces of Poland and plans to increase the state of individual medical personnel in the military wellness service.
During the gathering of the subcommittee, Colonel Mariusz Świderski, Deputy manager of the Military Department of the wellness Service, informed, in accordance with the decision of Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, established in July 2024, the interministerial squad develops concepts of systemic solutions concerning reorganization of ISH and the creation of medical troops. The changes are to concern, inter alia, the structures of these troops and the way in which they are directed and commanded in order to guarantee that their effectiveness is increased with peculiar emphasis on crisis situations. The paper is to be ready within a twelve days, and the reorganization process itself will last until 2028.
“The strategy of training of military medical personnel besides needs major changes,” said Colonel Świderski. Last June, the head of the MON made a decision to recreate Military Medical Academy In Łódź. This is intended to aid rebuild the teaching and technological possible of military medicine and to safe the needs of the Ministry and the Polish Army in this respect, as well as complement the universal wellness care system.
The draft bill on setting up WAM in the coming days will go to interministerial arrangements and then to parliamentary work. As announced by the Deputy manager of the DWSZ-et, the foundation of the university is to be Military Center for Medical Education in Łódź. The Academy is expected to be launched this year, but depending on the legislative process and the accreditation of recruitment for the first year will start either in the current year or the following year.
Colonel Swiderski besides presented planned investments in military hospitals for this year. 5 of them will receive grants from the Ministry of Defence for a full amount of over PLN 240,5 million. The beneficiaries will be: 1 Military Clinical infirmary in Lublin (more than PLN 37 million), 4 Military Clinical infirmary in Wrocław (8.6 million), 5 Military Clinical infirmary in Krakow (more than 153 million), 109 Military infirmary in Szczecin (about 32 million) and Military Medical Institute in Warsaw (near 10 million).
At the same time, since the end of 2024, there have been purchases related to the robotization task of military hospitals. – For nearly PLN 54 million we co-financed the acquisition Da Vinci surgical robots for 4 robotic surgery centres in hospitals in Wrocław, Krakow, Szczecin and 10th Military Clinical infirmary in Bydgoszcz – said Colonel Świderski.
The subcommittee besides discussed the level of filling of military medical posts. Almost 5,180 jobs are provided for them, while 3,220 people serve, and around 60% of the posts are occupied. “We have a large shortage of medical personnel,” said Colonel Świderski. At the request of Members, the officer provided details. There are 1119 posts in the army for doctors, of which there are 829; 61 for dentists (planted: 20), 69 for pharmacists (services 36 people), 59 for psychologists (occupated: 38), 300 for nurses (services 127 people), 1846 for paramedics (planted: 1056) and 800 for combat rescuers (occupated: 694).
– We think that the changes in the military wellness service are going in the right direction and the intention to make a component of medical troops is right," noted Marcin Ociepa (PiS), chair of the subcommittee. At the same time, he wondered whether, apart from playing WAM, it was worth training military doctors at civilian universities in parallel. – We have many schools teaching doctors at a advanced level, which besides want to educate doctors of medicine field combat. It would be a pity not to take advantage of this potential, especially because, as you can see from the shortages of medical personnel in the army, we request mass-level training – argued the politician.
Joanna Wicha (Levice) wondered why there were no candidates for military doctors, since the medical faculties at civilian colleges were breaking in stitches. – Is it actual that the way of improvement of a doctor in uniform is much longer than that of civilian doctors, and the wage is lower due to the fact that military doctors cannot work on contracts in another institutions and hence this disproportion? – asked the MP. besides PSL MPs – The 3rd Road Urszula Nowogorska and Andrzej Grzyb considered how to encourage and halt young doctors' officers.
– civilian universities are curious in training military doctors, but do students besides want to survey there? – said Colonel Maciej Łychczak, head of the department of personnel policy and resources in the Department of HR. As he said, at the Medical University of Łódź for the first year of survey in the military-medical college for respective years there have been at most about 200 candidates for medical officers.
On the another hand, erstwhile referring to how to keep medical officers in the army after college, Colonel Świderski stated that the Law on the Defence of the Fatherland provided for serving in the army 10 years after graduation. An officer who would like to leave the army early would gotta pay the cost of his education. “We are working to guarantee that the amounts to be reimbursed are besides collected by the soldier at the time of his education with salaries and maintenance at the expense of taxpayers,” explained the officer.
Colonel Świderski besides acknowledged that the reasons for the deficiency of military doctors and the resignation of students of this direction during the course of survey are diagnosed in the MON. Among them he mentioned, among others, the availability, the request to take up the position where it will be directed, and a lower wage after specializations for doctors in uniform than their civilian colleagues. “We are looking for solutions to bridge these financial differences in order to keep doctors in line and encourage fresh people, but this requires financial outlays and a motivational system,” concluded the deputy manager of DWSZ-et.
