Since the beginning of January, residents of Bolesławiec County have had to pay for ambulance visits if it turned out that the patient was not at risk of losing their life. Each such “unjustified” call-out cost PLN 50. When patients came to the ambulance station themselves and their lives were not in danger, they paid PLN 30 for a consultation. Even having an injection administered cost money. Patients were outraged.
The problem arose because the Bolesławiec ambulance service had not signed a contract with the National Health Fund. The NHF was simply offering too little money for such services. The situation is expected to change from Monday. Cezary Przybylski, the Bolesławiec starosta, assures that it will. “The National Health Fund has reached an agreement with the ambulance services. Contracts will be signed on Monday,” Cezary Przybylski told Boleslawiec.org. “Residents of Lower Silesia will be provided with care,” says the Bolesławiec starosta, who is also the head of all the starostas in our province.
TVN24 also took up the matter of paid call-outs and consultations. On Sunday, reporters from the station broadcast information across Poland about the problem affecting Lower Silesia’s emergency ambulance stations. They gave Bolesławiec as an example, and live reports were prepared from our city. Below, we present footage from the outside broadcast van.
(KG report)