Polish Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski announced that he will be resigining from his position with the intention of remaining an MP and returning to his previous profession as a cardiologist.
Szumowski carried out the function of Poland’s minister of health since January 2018. He was instrumental in ensuring Poland successfully navigated the initial coronavirus outbreak in 2020.
“I’m not disappearing anywhere and not quitting everything. I will remain an MP and still be in the public eye. I’m returning to my profession as I’m a cardiologist and electrophysiologist. I’d like to return to healing people,” Szumowski said at his press conference.
The minister revealed that conversations surrounding his resignation have been ongoing for months. He explained that there had been a gentleman’s agreement between himself, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński, which involved Szumowski remaining as health minister to complete a few important tasks for Poland, one of which included the introduction of a system of digitalization to Poland’s health system.
Szumowski noted that a system of infectious disease hospitals has also been built in Poland, as has a network of laboratories. The minister emphasized that tens of thousands of deaths were avoided in Poland during the pandemic, unlike in richer Western European countries such as France or Italy.
The deputy minister of health, Janusz Cieszyński, also filed his resignation on Monday after 944 days of working at the ministry.
ProfessorSzumowski is a cardiologist and professor of medical studies. After graduating from the Medical University of Warsaw, along with his wife, he worked in the first care home established by Mother Theresa in Calcutta.
He received his title of professor in 2016 from President Andrzej Duda. He was voted in again as an MP during the 2019 parliamentary elections, receiving 35,798 votes in his district.
