Healthcare union leaders were scheduled to meet with Niedzielski on Friday, but insisted that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also be present.
When it became clear Morawiecki would not take part, the medics walked out, state news agency PAP reported.
"We want to talk with the decision makers, and there weren't any there today," a spokesman for the striking doctors, Artur Drobniak, said.
The medics demand higher pay, more administrative support and that staff levels be linked to the number of patients.
The leader of a nurses' union, Krystyna Ptok, said: "The public health service is dying before our eyes, and we don't want to die at our stations and put the patients in danger."
Demands 'out of touch'
But Niedzielski said their demands were "out of touch" and would mean an overnight increase in healthcare spending to 10 percent of GDP.
"It's as if somebody expected us to be able to fly to Mars tomorrow," Niedzielski told reporters, adding that the protesters seemed intent on "exacerbating the problem, rather than solving it."
"A meeting with the prime minister is very much on the cards, but it requires a modicum of good faith," Niedzielski also said.
The medics have planned a protest outside parliament and the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday, the PAP news agency reported.
Under a new bill currently going through parliament, the government seeks to raise healthcare spending to 7 percent of GDP by 2027.
The legislation is part of the conservative government's flagship Polish New Deal initiative to boost the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP