Because of the Belarusian-Russian military drills “Zapad-2025,” Poland closed its border with Belarus on the night of September 12. Warsaw also reinforced its eastern frontier with an additional 40,000 troops. On September 7, CTV’s “Nedelya” host Olga Korshun accused the government of trying to cover up real problems with war-related PR. Health care, for example.
"Poland has the lowest number of doctors per capita in Europe. On average, the rate is twice as low as in the EU and about one and a half times lower than in Belarus. For years the country has tried to recruit more medical staff, but after earning their diplomas, Polish doctors head to Britain, Scandinavia and Germany," the anchor said.
Five days earlier, Minskaya Pravda also published a piece on problems in Poland’s health care system.
“For the record: Poland has an average of 2.4 doctors per 1,000 residents and 5.2 nurses, which puts the country below the EU average of 3.9 doctors and 8.3 nurses,” the article said.
Minskaya Pravda’s figures on the number of doctors in Poland are outdated. The country had 2.4 practicing physicians per 1,000 people seven years ago, in 2018. Today the figure is nearly four doctors per 1,000 residents.
It is also untrue that Poland is the absolute bottom of the list in Europe when it comes to the number of medical professionals. According to Eurostat data for 2023, at least 10 EU countries are in worse shape. While Poland was indeed at the very bottom of the ranking in 2018, the situation has since improved.
In Belarus, Belstat reports nearly 5.5 practicing doctors per 1,000 residents. But this figure is calculated differently in the EU and in Belarus. Belstat counts all medical specialists with higher medical education who provide patient care, including dentists. In European statistics, dentists are not included — they are listed separately. It's hard to say what the figure for Belarus would actually be if it were calculated under European rules.
