Psychiatric hospital bought an award for over PLN 10,500

A Reader informed us about the matter. In an email to the editorial office, they wrote:

The director of the provincial hospital in Bolesławiec, Ms Janina Hulacka, is proudly boasting about the award she received for the hospital’s exemplary work. It concerns the so-called Pearls of Medicine. The Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship is also boasting about this award.

The sad truth is that the director simply bought the award for herself, spending public money on it. The average cost of receiving such an award is PLN 10,000!!! The supposed prestige of the award has been repeatedly exposed by national media [Czytelnik podał nam kilka linków do artykułów takich serwisów jak: NaTemat.pl czy Onet.pl].

At the hospital, one constantly hears that there is no money for anything; the vast majority of staff have not received a penny’s raise for six or seven years, not even one matching inflation. Patients’ families are told to buy, at their own expense, items that the hospital is required to provide under its contract with the NFZ, such as incontinence briefs. Meanwhile, public money is being spent on meaningless, absurd awards.

We asked the director, Janina Hulacka, whether the hospital had paid for the award—third place in the category of monospecialist hospitals—citing the Reader’s email. “That’s absurd. Someone is talking nonsense,” she replied. “I suggest visiting the Pearls of Medicine website, where you can see the rules. Receiving the award is not so simple.”

However, when we pursued the matter, the director admitted that the hospital had paid a fee “for promotional materials.” “There are fees for every evaluation and every audit,” Janina Hulacka stressed. “And for every award, not just this one. That is normal. All such things cost money. I don’t remember how much we paid for the promotional materials. We deal in millions, so please check the rules.”

We checked. The agreement concerning participation in the 2014 National Medical Competition Pearls of Medicine does indeed mention a payment of PLN 10,578 gross [jak podał „Tygodnik Powszechny”, opłata w 2013 r. była taka sama], which must be paid. In return—“if the required documents and the Competition Questionnaire are positively reviewed by the Competition Jury”—the organizer provides, among other things, a diploma, a statuette, two A4 pages in a commemorative book, an invitation to the gala, the right to use the title received and a note on the competition website.

Janina Hulacka did not address the other allegations made by the Reader. She said that she was preparing for an accreditation visit and could no longer speak with us.

“Gazeta Wyborcza”—in an article with the telling title “Tygodnik Powszechny” exposes the Pearls of Medicine. You can buy the “prestigious” award—wrote:

Using the Pearls of Medicine as an example, [“Tygodnik Powszechny”] shows that winning an award with a prestigious name does not require high-quality services, only a transfer to a certain company’s account. […] The company that awards the Pearls does not specialize solely in medicine. It presents other titles as well—Eagles of Polish Construction, Local Government Friendly to Business, and Tourist-Attractive Municipality.

(information: ii editorial office)