The Minister of Health, Prof. Marian Zembala – acting based on Art 24 Section 2 of the Act of 30 April 2010 on Research Institutes – has appointed Prof. Henryk Skarzyński the Director of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing a the 4-year term. Prof. Skarżyński commenced his 5th term of office as the Director on 8 October 2015.
The Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing has been established in 1996, at the initiative of Prof. Henryk Skarżyński with the support of the Prime Minister of Poland, Mr Józef Oleksy. The Directive of the Minister of Health and Welfare establishing the Institute has been signed by the Minister of Health Prof Jacek Żochowski, Chairman of the State Committee for Scientific Research Prof Aleksander Łuczak and the Minister of Finance Prof Grzegorz Kołodko.
Today, the Institute is a leading Polish research institute holding A+ category and a highly specialized hospital providing comprehensive care for people with hearing, voice, speech, balance and breathing disorders. Institute’s clinical experience is enormous. Each year there are more than 12 thousand patients hospitalized and over 18.5 thousand surgical procedures performed – about 6-70 surgeries (mostly hearing improving operations) every day. These numbers place the Institute at the world’s leading position in ENT, audiology and phoniatrics.
At the formal meeting with the team of the Institute, Prof H. Skarżyński presented plans and objectives for the next years. They include elaboration of Institute’s activities creating national health policies within the framework of long-term public healthcare programs financed from public funds and citizens’ dues, constant monitoring of society health needs through universal epidemiological screening programs using modern ICT approaches and maintaining the research-and-development activities at the highest level.
– We will continue systematically implementing newest scientific achievements in our daily clinical practice in order to popularize standards, methods and principles of diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation management of patients. We will keep up widespread prophylactic, educational and pro-health activities in cooperation with the ministries of education, science and labor and welfare taking advantage of opportunities provided by modern telemedicine – assured Prof. H. Skarżyński.
The Institute will also continue its cooperation with different Polish clinical units in such areas as evaluation and verification of costs of treatment and efficacy of treatment methods and training of specialists aimed particularly at scientific and technological progress in medicine.
Another principal aim of the Institute will continue to be the strengthening of Polish reputation in world’s science and medicine. One of the examples of such activities is the program of Partial Deafness Treatment – authored and developed by Prof. H. Skarżyński since 1997, recognized today as the ‘Polish school’ in global medical research. In last 10 years there have been almost 2,000 publications and congress presentations on this topic of world and continental congresses in Asia and Oceania, Europe, Africa and both Americas.