“Poles’ health, our health, is the biggest asset and investment for the future” was the main theme of the 2020 “Health of Poles” Congress. Experts’ debates, panels, and lectures were organized online, and now, after the congress, they are available on the World Hearing Centre YouTube channel.
This year’s Congress’s main aim was social education, without which the staff alone and greater financial expenditure on science and medicine will not provide optimal results. Responsible pro-health attitudes that should be continuously promoted in society will create a safe environment for all of us.
I would like to thank you for supporting the idea and organizing the Congress, which took place in these difficult times – said Prof. Henryk Skarżyński, the initiator and the chairman of the Congress Program Council. – Thank you for participating in the Program Council’s work and the debates and panels. The idea of organizing a Congress devoted to Poles’ health was born last year among the Committee of Clinical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Main Council of Research Institutes. Then, we did not yet know how brutal the reality would be for doctors, scientists and all of us. Today we – the leaders, people of success, and representatives of various specialities carry a special burden of responsibility.
– We need this Congress, as we continuously get ill and we have to know how to cure ourselves, regardless of the pandemic situation. The other diseases will not stop afflicting us because of the pandemic and limited access to the healthcare units. Thus, this Congress varies from those we held in the past – said Prof. Henryk Skarżyński during the opening. – A large group of scientists, experts in various fields and co-organizers of panels in leading university centres in Poland decided that it should be organized. The event’s main organizers were the World Hearing Center and the Institute of Sensory Organs, with the supporting partner PKN Orlen.
There were seven debates during the 2nd Congress, several dozen discussion panels, and expert lectures referring to various medical fields, health care, economy, and media. Most of the speeches aimed to provide valuable tips on maintaining health, recommendations for healthcare professionals, and citizens concerning the current COVID-19 infection. Nearly 250 speeches were delivered during the Congress.
We should appreciate the medical world’s everyday heroic effort to fight against this pandemic, remembering that some of our colleagues, doctors, nurses, paramedics sacrifice their lives for us to be cured. We have to remember that medicine does not end with the pandemic, we still have all the diseases that cause about 1 200 Polish women and men to die every day. Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, obesity-related diseases, hypertension, lung cancer – this should not be forgotten. We are focused on fighting the pandemic, but we must never forget about other diseases. Experts will show the possible solutions and social consequences of the changing conditions in the new healthcare reality era. W must be aware that nothing will ever be the same. This is the challenge for this Congress – said Prof. Tomasz Grodzki, marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland.
The letter from the prime pinister Mateusz Morawiecki read Magdalena Beyer, advisor to the Secretary of State of the Chancellery of Poland’s prime minister.
Although the fight against the pandemic has taken over reality, we do not forget about other medical care areas because we want to detect diseases as early as possible and prevent their development. We established a long-awaited medical fund. Its aim is to facilitate the implementation of many procedures within oncology and rare diseases areas. It also helps to build Polish doctors’ competencies and enable them to work on the most modern equipment using the latest procedures. I am convinced that this will contribute to Poles’ safety and the Polish health care system’s efficiency. We have planned 120.6 billion zlotys for the health care in 2021, 12.7 billion zlotys more than in the previous year. These are funds for health policy programs, the purchase of vaccines, for the immunization program and – under the National Health Fund – for highly specialized services, drugs for people over 75 years old, and medical rescue teams’ activities – said the prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
In the letter, the Prime Minister emphasized that another goal of the government is to further computerize the health care system, which includes e-referrals, and that by 2022 all data on the health of Poles will have been transferred to IT systems.
The speech was also given by Dr Paloma Cuchi, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Poland – This conference was dedicated to COVID-19, and the fight against the pandemic in Poland comes at an excellent time. We are at a critical moment of the pandemic, especially the entire northern hemisphere. We face a few tough months, especially since some countries have already entered a path of dangerous growth. In too many countries we are seeing an exponential increase in the number of cases. Leading to over-crowded hospitals and intensive care units, and yet it’s only October. WHO is calling leaders for the immediate action to prevent unnecessary deaths, keep medical services from collapsing and to avoid closing schools again – she said.
At the same time, she called all countries for the implementation of five key actions that should be taken in the fight against the pandemic:
• The current epidemiological situation in the country should be assessed based on the latest available data. Perform a simple analysis with positive, negative, and extremely negative scenarios. Countries that have successfully handled the transmission of COVID-19 should now double their efforts to keep transmission low, remaining vigilant and ready to identify new cases and respond quickly. They cannot let the virus spiral out of control again.
• In countries with an increasing number of cases and over-crowded hospitals, the necessary changes and corrective actions should be implemented as soon as possible.
• Public opinion should be informed openly and understandably about the epidemiological situation in a country and what society must do to survive pandemics.
• System solutions must be introduced to make it easier for society to comply with the prescribed preventive measures.
• All countries should reduce contact with infected people and give them specific instructions on how to proceed.
The guests spoke about the legislative, executive, and local authorities’ activities for Poles’ health, pre-and postgraduate education during the COVID-19 pandemic, the role and place of health ministry institutes during the COVID-19 pandemic or broadly understood health care during the pandemic.
– The health of Poles is the most urgent and most important issue today. Health is our common concern. This year’s Congress is devoted to social education in this field, and it is a priceless value. Without it, the efforts of doctors, medical workers, scientists, and experts will not bring the desired effect. We need solidarity between all generations and specialists in various fields to shape pro-health attitudes and promote responsibility for ourselves and our society. Today we have to face the pandemic, I believe that we will pass it victoriously, but we must mobilize ourselves and observe the restrictions. The government is continuously monitoring the threat and is trying to implement a strategy to fight the SARS-COV-2 virus every day. So that it responds as effectively as possible to the needs of the current situation and protects Poles. The government’s strategy has three main goals. Our priority is the safety and support of seniors, adequate treatment of COVID-19 patients, and taking such measures to have the least impact on Poles’ economy and everyday life – we read in the letter of the prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Health concern everyone – all generations, all social groups, all media or authorities. Therefore, this year’s Congress’s formula was expanded to Internet-broadcast panels that were held in nine academic centres. Scientists in Białystok, Gdańsk, Lublin, Łódź, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Szczecin, and Wrocław became the co-organizers of the Congress.