Poland

Poland is having increasing difficulties meeting the health care needs and demands of its population. The key problems are deteriorating health status, the inefficiencies of the delivery system for health services, and a predominant reliance on public funds for the system's revenues. The purpose of this report is to examine more closely the provision of health services in Poland and their financing, and thereby to help reformulate health policy and identify reform measures that can be undertaken in the next five years. A policy framework was developed with the aid of the Polish Health Task Force working groups during a mission in June 1990. This report discusses the rationale of the framework and elaborates on the policy options that emerged. It is intended that this framework will provide a basis for organizing national and international financial, technical, and human resources in support of reform. The Ministry of Health has determined that the underlying principles of the new health policy should be to promote health and prevent illness, to improve efficiency in the delivery of health services, and to diversify the sources of financing for health care, thereby decreasing reliance on the state budget.