Adam Niedzielski said pay for ward assistants and similar employees would rise by an average of some PLN 1,000 (around USD 260, EUR 220) a month.
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, head of the opposition Polish People's Party (PSL), said during a debate in parliament it was unfair that orderlies - unlike doctors and nurses - do not receive extra money for being engaged in the battle against the coronavirus, although they also have contact with patients.
Poland on Thursday reported 21,130 new coronavirus infections and 682 more deaths, bringing the country's total number of cases during the pandemic to 2,642,242 and fatalities to 60,612.
In a ceremony last week honouring healthcare workers who died battling the COVID-19 epidemic, President Andrzej Duda said that in the past year 138 doctors and the same number of nurses had given their lives, as well as 19 midwives, 19 paramedics, 19 dentists and 12 pharmacists, in addition to other staff including laboratory diagnosticians.
(pk)
Source: PAP