WOŚP

If I was to come up with the most renowned, but also the most controversial charity initiative in Poland, without hesitation I would point at Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy. Those who’d wish to translate its name into English could scratch their heads to figure out what Świąteczna stands for. The most common explanation is that it pertains to Christmas, as its first event was held in early January, shortly past the Christmas tide.

Beginnings of the initiative could be traced back to January 1993. Poland was in the state of flux past the downfall of communism. The nascent private sector was booming, but on the other hand several industries were on its knees. The public purse was not chock full of money, especially to fund growing needs of the health service, which has not moved ahead from the bygone era. From its beginnings, WOŚP was a fundraising, with proceeds aimed at purchasing medical equipment and donating them to public hospitals.

With time WOŚP collected more and more money, but also mobilised an army of enemies from the right wing of the political scene. Ample reasons could have been quoted, starting from outrage at Jerzy Owsiak, the initiative founder and leader, for espousing social views far from conservatism, through envy somebody recurringly mobilises an army of hearts, an achievement no one on the right side of the Polish political arena cannot boast of, to Mr Owsiak’s political involvement, unhidden since the very chap is hot-tempered.

Finances of WOŚP have been x-rayed by his enemies, claiming a far too small fraction of the money collected goes to purchases of medical equipment. I have analysed publicly available financial statements of the foundation and found no irregularities. Money raised from donators and bank account interest off it finance purchases of medical equipment (over a two-year observation period), while running costs of the foundation and its non-charity activities are covered by payments from sponsors and partners. Mr Owsiak and his life do live off running it, yet the founder’s salary is lower than mine, while his contribution to quality of life in Poland is a thousand times higher than mine, hence I see no point it in nitpicking.

If you compare annual proceeds from WOŚP to annual outlays on health service in Poland, you will find out WOŚP finances our health service for one day in a year. Two or three decades ago, deficiency of medial equipment was the major problem of the Polish healthcare system. Today, it is the shortage of doctors in combination with ageing society which brings the health service (not only in Poland) into imbalance. This problem is unlikely to be solved by any charity since it is a structural one, as supply of medical stuff is highly inelastic.

In 2026 WOŚP brings people together country-wide and has become an integral element of January (since 2021 the final day is on the last Sunday of January, being one of few Sundays in a year when shops are allowed to be open in Poland).

As in case of any charity, contributions to it ought to be voluntary. If you dislike it, for any reason, just do not donate. It is fine. But do not spread hatred. This year, as everyone noted, the range of loathing towards WOŚP in the public discourse was record-low. Maybe those not fond of the initiative have come to their senses and realised their outrage only boosts the funding for WOŚP.

With respect to me share in this magnificent pie, I can proudly boast of:
1) my home-made apple pie and cheesecake auctioned off for PLN 1,014
2) items I received as gifts as families under my care in Szlachetna Paczka in 2025 auctioned off in total for PLN 64,
3) I won auctions for:
- a handmade woollen cap and a scarf – bid of PLN 107,
- a voucher for bowling in Arena Ursynów – bid of PLN 160,
- a voucher for snooker in Arena Ursynów – bid of PLN 62,
4) besides I donated PLN 50 to a traditional can and PLN 30 to an online can.
The contribution above totals to PLN 1,487, which sets an ambitious target to be beaten in January 2027. Keep warm!

Bad days coming?

In May I predicted the second wave of COVID-19 would bring more fatalities than the first one. If we look at the number of daily new infections in several European countries, not all exhibit the typical second wave pattern (a considerable decline in new cases in between would need to be witnessed), but everywhere one can observe a surge in newly detected ones.

The figures for the recent weeks in Poland are disturbing. The number of new cases which exceeded 1,000 first on 19 September hit 2,292 on 1 October and 2,367 on 2 October. A more alarming figure is the number of hospital beds occupied and number of patients under respirators; the latter rose by more than 100% within the last 10 days.

The recent spike has little or nothing to do with the weather (locked down Israel still enjoys +30C temperatures), but with people returning to normalcy, including children going to school, mixing up and socialising as if COVID-19 did not exist and general fatigue with the sanitary regime that has kept us company over the recent months. This falls is line with my predictions dated May 2020.

Reality in early October 2020 is definitely different than in mid-March 2020. On our side are:
- good supply and availability of face masks and sanitisers as well as protective equipment in hospitals,
- better knowledge of the medical nature of the virus and how it has mutated towards less deadly form, implying lower mortality,
- worked out combinations of medicines used in therapy.

What does not bode well for the future:
- much fewer people are afraid of the virus – in March 2020 the threat of infection was a novelty, everybody feared a scenario from northern Italy or from New York where overstrained hospitals workers had to choose who to rescue,
- general return to normal life – meaning most people who worked remotely at the beginning of the pandemic are back in offices, children have returned to schools, socialising is in overdrive,
- growing disobedience of basic protective rules, especially not wearing face masks properly indoors, not to mention the bunch of morons who deny the virus and espouse the pandemic is a conspiracy plotted to take control over humans and enslave them.

It needs to be underlined PiS government has buggered it up in terms of preparing hospitals for the second wave. In some regions hospitals are already running out of beds for patients, while the worst is still much ahead. They have had 6 months to make up for deficiency other than structural shortage of workforce, but they have screwed it up all along! In terms of testing we are far behind countries which target 100,000 tests a day (France, Great Britain, Italy). If we were to catch up with them, given our smaller population, we should do 70,000 tests a day.

The second harsh lockdown is not imaginable, not just because of disobedience and reluctance to social discipline rules, but also because our faltering economy and public finances lacking reserves cannot afford it. In all countries where anti-virus measures are tightened, they are targeted to minimise contacts between humans without harming businesses. Nevertheless, rules of rigour set not only in Poland are absurd. Closing eateries at 10:00 p.m. implies a virus tends to spread overnight. An imminent (Warsaw might become a red zone next Saturday) obligation to wear a face mask during a lonely walk through countryside fields, while one is permitted to attend a wedding reception with 50 other people is an outright idiocy.

Besides, restrictions, if are to be effective, ought to be enforceable. Just like in the UK, you might forbid people mixing up indoors, but how will you check people abide by rules in their dwellings? Will you rely on neighbours kindly informing too many folks have gathered next door? The strategy of recommending social distancing rests on trust in people’s wisdom, which was effective in the early days of pandemic, when discipline was fed by fear of the unknown. Today I doubt it is effective any longer.

With this all in mind, my biggest fear now is my volunteer activity in Szlachetna Paczka, for several reasons:
- my co-volunteers seem to shrug off the virus and the fact if half of us get infected from one another (we meet in person once a fortnight, frequency of meeting to increase with time) and need to go on quarantine for a fortnight, the work in the district is paralysed (I believe we might meet, but need to wear face masks as a must all the time),
- we have to strictly obey the sanitary regime when we meet families in their dwellings and require the same from families visited,
- observing the chaos and disorganisation inside Szlachetna Paczka on countrywide and local level, I fear their plan B and plan C for the pandemic is just a non-existent strategy (it is kept confidential for some reason).

Truth be told, optimism does not keep me company these days (I am sick of working from home, yet I realise returning to the office is not an option), despite doing well in personal life.

Weather note: as a write it early in the morning, temperature is +19C and gusty southern wind is blowing. Yet temperature record for October in Warsaw (+25.9C on 5 October 1966) is unlikely to be broken.

Uncertainty

Wednesday, 1 January 2020, late morning. Empty streets. I thought to myself whether this would be possible on any other day of the year. Reality has already answered my question.

At the beginning of the week I planned to write about the oncoming presidential election, still due in May. As I am writing this post the state of emergency has not been declared, yet I believe we might be hours from it being declared, as the situation profoundly justifies it. Nevertheless, the incumbent president kept campaigning in Garwolin yesterday. His term needs to be extended in current circumstances – we will endure a few months more with him as a head of state.

With an invisible enemy which has brought nations to its knees and disorganises our lives, all current affairs and plans recede into the background. We might yearn for just a week ago was a normalcy.

On Friday, 6 March, I spent the evening in a restaurant with friends.

On Saturday, 7 March, I last went to a local swimming pool.

On Tuesday, 10 March I last travelled to work by underground (without much fear).

On Wednesday, 11 March, I drove to the office by (private) car and took all IT equipment home to ensure my workplace for a few weeks (my living room) is ergonomic and comfortable.

On Friday, 13 March, after the conference held by the prime minister, I rushed to Decathlon to pick up by bike from completed pre-season maintenance (yesterday the shop was closed and thanks to this my bike is not arrested for a few weeks).

In terms of preventive measures, Poland is ahead of other countries at the same stage of the epidemy. All inconveniences are pursued wisely, yet one has to bear in mind the Polish health service suffers after years of being neglected and underfunded. I am of the opinion further restrictions ought to be placed, with limiting trade to groceries, pharmacies, petrol stations and other services essential to keep life going. Rationing out food and other stuff people stockpiled on in recent days (including lavatory paper) would in my opinion make sense, to prevent people from making gatherings in shops.

Recovery after the epidemy is under control is one thing, the other task will be resuscitation of the economy. Several small businesses had to be closed down and consequently deprived of revenue, which most expenses due to be paid, including salaries payable to employees. Bigger enterprises usually have resources to carry on for a few months, smaller ones might not survive a month. Here also prevention is better than cure.

The banking system is indeed (at least in this respect officials do not lie) well-prepared for serious tribulations, as long as people do not start withdrawing deposits. My insight observation is that my employer and probably no other bank has not envisaged in its business continuity plans such widespread disruptions. We are working to improve business continuity procedures and bracing ourselves for helping distressed customers especially in situations when signing documentation is impossible.

This situation tests us for:
- idiocy – those who shrug off the peril, compare it to regular flu and rush to shops to stock up excessively fail it,
- manhood – we should be ready to help and care for the most vulnerable fellows,
- discipline – this is the time to give up on what considered to be a normal life over our entire lifetime.

Apart from the economy, human psyches will need to recover. Some, like me, spend this time in isolation. Phone calls, Messenger or WhatsApp will not replace face-to-face contact. Others are stuck with their partners or families in one dwelling, possibly for several weeks without major breaks, which will also put their relationships to the test. Maybe the epidemy will reshape model of fostering relationships and appreciate being with another person, rather than with a smartphone.

I read a human brain needs two weeks to adjust to such unprecedented situation. 14 days seem little, yet the progress of epidemy is faster than capacity of the human brain – what I wrote on 1 March about the coronavirus seems outdated today. The word which best describes where we are know is uncertainty. We do not know how our life will look like in a week. Easter, due in 4 weeks seems a distant future. But quite possibly, in a year life will be going on pretty normally, hopefully.

Down-to-earth stuff: today is the fifth anniversary of my paternal grandmother’s death.

Weather-wise, last night was the coldest this… cold season in Warsaw, with temperature down to –8C.

Bogowie - film review

Customarily, long overdue, yet up for the release. The film biography of professor Zbigniew Religa, outstanding Polish cardiac surgeon, who first carried out a successful heart transplant in Poland, was hailed one of the best Polish films that went to the silver screen in 2014. The film received accolades and awards predominantly for the superiorly played role of the main character, so hats off to Tomasz Kot who did a splendid job of rendering what Mr Religa was like. The film is not just the memoirs of one of the most prominent individuals in the history of Polish medicine, or the homage paid to professor Religa. Its plot is multi-faceted and thread of Mr Religa’s endeavours to perform a successful heart transplant is intertwined with many other themes, likewise imperative to make the film whole.

Bogowie is about attaining the impossible. The plot is set in the 1980s and covers only a few most important years in Mr Religa’s biography; the period when as a surgeon in his mid-40s against all odds he attempts to overcome numerous impediments and perform a surgery that to almost everyone else seems out of reach.

The obstacles Mr Religa faces broadly have two ever-lasting dimensions: the system and the people. Bear in mind the story plays out in Poland in post-martial-law bleak mid-1980s; times of economic misery and social indifference. The slowly crumbling communist system was depicted incisively and with details worth remembering. The film can remind younger audience health care was quite well-developed in countries of the Soviet bloc. In terms of progress in medicine and access to health-care institutions communist countries had probably the littlest distance to catch up with the higher developed West. Talented young doctors, mostly those inconvenient for their superiors, were allowed to take internships in Western clinics and see cutting-edge development in the medicine. Obviously, they had to meet sullen individuals from the communist secret services and sign relevant papers; of course the choice criteria for foreign internships were flawed, yet plenty of young, up-and-coming doctors could bring a breath of fresh air to the Polish backwater. At that time the system, if you did not try to overthrow it, was not your biggest enemy and as it turned out, if you could make some concessions (Mr Religa at first avows he will never join the party and then goes back on his own promise to get a state subsidy), it could play along with you and somehow help you do your bit.

Much more nefarious than the system were the people. Depiction of senior, hard-line doctors, reluctant to move the Polish medicine ahead, discouraging the young generation from striving to attain the impossible, and laughing off their ambitions, is repulsive. In medicine, if the picture in the film is not distorted, the people, not the system, were to blame for backwardness of Poland. The ossified system, founded on the domination of old professors, was a drag on medical progress. In the film you could see something common back in the 1980s, namely the convention of addressing your superior per pan, while your superior would turn to you per ty, lack of symmetry today unthinkable in most places.

The film highlights the dark side of the Polish nature. “A Pole envies a fellow Pole even a calamity”, the sentence of a doctor who first, unsuccessfully, attempted to carry out a heart transplant, is meant to tell you in this cruel world you should not count anyone would support you, if you pull it off, your accomplishment will be detracted from, if you slip up, your failure will bring joy to your foes.

The film is about balancing humility and resilience. Knowing one’s own limitations is essential in doctor’s work and pursuit of one’s ambitions at all costs is absolutely reprehensible. Yet, some sort of obstinacy and determination not to give up is crucial if the path towards success is long, winding and full of obstacles. Stumbling, falling and the rising up must be counted in at the onset of the pursuit.

It is a film about ethics and risk management. The link between the two is elusive, yet worth paying attention to. In theory of economics you distinguish between pure risk and speculative risk. The former is observable when the outcome can be either neutral or negative. A good example is a risk of having a traffic accident – you either do not have an accident and are neither better off, nor worse off, or you have an accident and are worse off. An example of the latter is speculation on financial market – prices can move both favourably and unfavourably for you, you stand a chance of either losing or wining. At first glance, in the case of the heart transplant neither type of risk is exhibited. You face a situation which in theory of economics should never occur. The outcome might be either neutral or positive. A patient can either die soon or their life can be extended. From the ethical point of view, the dilemma is however more complicated, since by attempting to perform a heart transplant you might also accelerate the patient’s decease. The decision what to do rests than with a doctor who has sworn “not to harm”. The definition of harming can be vague as well. For older, backward doctors, putting the life of a patient who was bound to die within a few weeks at peril, fitted the definition of inflicting a harm. For Mr Religa, this was the price to pay for progress allowing to extend by several years lives of thousands of people.

Finally, the film is about striking a balance between career and personal life. Mr Religa in his pursuit of a method of saving lives of millions neglect his family. It not because he loves his job that much, it is because he wants to help people so much. The question which arises naturally then is whether outstanding individuals who want to sacrifice their lives to do something for posterity should raise families? Or maybe their families should be more lenient?

The film contains scenes of surgeries on open heart and it reminded me why I could not be a doctor. At such sights I nearly feel like passing out. Well, if everyone was cut out for every role, economic progress would have been far slower I guess…

Not the country for disadvantaged people

I've promised to post today, so I'm doing this, but just not to go back on the promise. Unfortunately I spent almost the whole day running errands with doctors. I had taken the day off to sort out the prolongation of my driving licence (expires on 9 May), but to boot I caught a cold (or rather developed one not properly cured from the beginning of April) during a business trip and earlier in the office and had to visit a GP...

And here it came to be a surprise. Normally it is actually very hard to make an immediate appointment with a doctor when you are in urgent need, if the situation is really bad you have to fork out around 100 PLN for a private visit. Many Poles cannot afford to pay so much, but eventually do, as health is more important than other consumption expenditures. My parents ended up shelling out 100 PLN for a home visit in October last year when my fever surged to +39.5C...

And those who can afford to pay... Get it for free, not because they are insured in national health service system, but because, as I, also have health care package bought by their employers. Waving my health insurance card today allowed me to consult a doctor immediately, while other, worse-off patients were waiting... I can't say I feel well about this. Is it fair that a private health centre which has contracts both with state-run health insurers and with private companies puts well-off employees of well-off private companies in a privileged position against ordinary people? Does it square with your sense of justice?

Or maybe it is fair because my employer has pulled down walls and in open plans germs find no obstacles (walls and doors) to fly around, forty colleagues around me cough and sneeze, everyone wants to have a bit of fresh air and open windows create draughts?

Over, the post about struggling with Polish bereaucracy due around Easter Monday, I'm going to bed to heat myself up and recuperate (needless to say I refused to take a sick leave, as I need to pull off a critically important deal by Tuesday at the latest).

Have a good Easter...