"Poles in Poland have to pay to receive medical care, while Ukrainians don't", declared the presidential candidate of the far-right Polish "Confederation" Slawomir Menzen during his election campaign. "They come from Ukraine to Poland, make an appointment with a doctor, lengthen the waiting lines, get the medication they need and go back", added Menzen, who even spoke of "medical tourism", as quoted by the German "Die Welt". The publication points out that Menzen and his "Confederation" have been agitating against Ukrainians in Poland for years. Members of the right-wing, libertarian and somewhat monarchist movement also criticize Poland's military support for Ukraine.
Problems in hospitals
The first round of the presidential election in Poland is on May 18, and since none of the candidates will likely be able to get 50 percent of the vote, a runoff can be expected two weeks later - with Menzen's anti-Ukrainian rhetoric being taken up by others. “I have indeed received signals that citizens who have arrived from Ukraine are causing problems in the queues at hospitals and clinics. I believe that Ukrainians in Poland should not live better than Poles“, the candidate of the national-conservative “PiS“ also states (PiS) Karol Nawrocki, quoted by the German publication.
The fact that Polish politicians are creating anti-Ukrainian sentiment in the country, especially in relation to the healthcare system, is a pre-election maneuver, says “Die Welt“. At the same time, the publication notes that these incitements are in line with the change in public sentiment. Since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine, no other country has provided greater support to the attacked country than Poland. The Polish government began supporting Ukraine with weapons early on, and millions of Ukrainian refugees have found refuge in Poland.
In Europe, Poland is considered the driving force behind more energetic support for Ukraine and tougher sanctions against Russia. The ruling “PiS“ party, which will govern until December 2023, maintained this course, but the party's presidential candidate – The non-partisan Nawrocki is now putting an end to this policy, the German publication points out.
The largest group of Ukrainian refugees
According to his data, there are currently about 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees in Poland - the largest group in Europe that has the same rights to medical care as the Polish population. The integration of the refugees is exemplary in many ways - most of them work and learn Polish in just months, but despite this, discontent among Poles is growing. They complain about the long waits in front of doctors' offices and the shortage of beds in hospitals. And some of them blame the large number of Ukrainians in the country for this.
„Confederation“ and „PiS“ took up the topic under the slogan „The health system is overloaded“, points out „Die Welt“. "The fact that Polish patients complain about Ukrainians or have the impression that they are an additional burden on the Polish healthcare system is in line with a general trend in Poland - namely, that sympathy for Ukrainians is decreasing and not everyone is happy that there are so many Ukrainians in the country," Tomasz Saroszek, an oncologist at a Warsaw clinic, told the German publication.
The problems are not new
He also regularly serves Ukrainian cancer patients. Among them are often people who continue their therapy in Poland that they started in Ukraine. According to him, there is no deterioration in the medical situation because of the Ukrainians - it was tense even before 2022, says the doctor, adding: "If before you had to wait six months for a specialist examination, now you have to wait two or three weeks longer, which in my opinion is not a big deterioration."
Health expert Krzysztof Landa, in turn, told "Die Welt" that patients have to wait an average of four months for a specialist examination - regardless of whether they are Poles or Ukrainians. But neither he nor Saroszek believe that the Ukrainians are to blame for the long wait. However, this will not prevent the "Confederation" or "PiS" from using the problems in healthcare to win votes, comments "Die Welt" correspondent from Warsaw Filip Fritz.