Hundreds of health care workers from across Poland gathered in the capital of Warsaw on Saturday to protest for higher wages and better working conditions, which they argue have significantly worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pictures and videos shared on social media showed doctors, nurses and other medical workers marching together down streets as they held signs and banners with phrases like, “We live a short time because we work hard,” and “One nurse for 30 patients! Who to help first?”
The Associated Press reported that protest organizers held a moment of silence Saturday in memory of Polish healthcare workers who have died after becoming infected with COVID-19 on the job.
Medical workers in Poland have reported difficulties in meeting the needs of patients due to COVID-19 as the country’s health care sector had already complained of low levels of funding even before the pandemic.
Wojciech Zdanowski, a 41-year-old paramedic, told Reuters Saturday, “We want decent jobs and wages … I work now for about 500 hours a month, not for money, but because there is no one to work.”
The protesters planned to head past Warsaw’s parliamentary building and end their march at the prime minister’s office, according to the AP.
Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski has expressed a willingness to engage in talks with protesters to come to a compromise on how to improve working conditions, but has noted that the government would likely not have the capacity to meet all of their demands, according to the AP.
Reuters noted that Niedzielski told private broadcaster Radio Zet on Friday, “Let’s be serious, if at this moment we have a budget for health that is 120 or 130 billion zlotys [$33 billion] and there is a demand to increase that by 100 billion [$26 billion]… it goes completely beyond the bounds of good sense and reason.”
The Polish Press Agency reported that the country’s health ministry recorded 530 new coronavirus infections in the country on Saturday alone, up from the 528 reported the previous day.
Additionally, hospitals across the European country are now handling a total of 666 coronavirus patients, 82 of whom are on ventilators. The health ministry said there are about 590 total ventilators available throughout Poland.
Poland has had a relatively slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout compared to some other countries, with just 48 percent of its total population fully vaccinated as of Saturday, according to Reuters.