General Grzegorz Gielerak, director of the Military Institute of Medicine, told a health and security panel at the European Economic Congress that the state's primary task was ensuring uninterrupted medical treatment during emergencies.
"The first solution is diversifying foreign supplies from at least two or three sources", Gielerak said, adding that logistics security was "an area not only of medicine, but also of diplomacy and economics, and thus various kinds of international agreements".
He argued that state-owned pharmaceutical company Polfa should become a pillar of Poland's critical drug security system, alongside existing agencies capable of assessing drug quality and tracking consumption and stockpile levels. The Government Strategic Reserve Agency should serve as the central storage point, he said.
"My analysis shows that within no more than 18 to 24 months we can connect every element, even the smallest, including technologies, division of roles and resource creation", Gielerak said, adding that the health, defense and interior ministers should coordinate the effort.
Piotr Czauderna, chairman of the presidential Health Council, said there was cross-party consensus on the issue.
"We speak with one voice", he said, calling for integration of civilian and military healthcare and the creation of a separate hospital network for crisis conditions, distinct from the existing national health system.
He warned that wartime conditions would make standard medical procedures — including electronic records management, physician liability rules and blood transfusions outside hospitals — legally untenable under current law.
(jh)
Source: PAP