A groundless and unjustified decision – Declaration by Prof. Jerzy Szaflik
With regard to the information that I have been removed from my posts as National Consultant for ophthalmology, Director of the Eye Tissue Bank in Warsaw and member of the National Transplantation Council, and that a report has been submitted to the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, I hereby declare that the actions of the Ministry of Health are incomprehensible to me, and taken for unclear reasons.
I feel slandered and humiliated by them.
Despite the suggestions arising from these announcements, there is no context of corruption in what is described as the “procedural ambiguities with regard to cornea transplants in Poland.”
During my talk with the Minister of Health, I was not presented with any allegations concerning my function as a national consultant for ophthalmology, or as a member of the National Transplantation Council, or in connection with my work as Director of the Eye Tissue Bank.
I have therefore decided to lodge an appeal against the decision by the Minister of Health Bartosz Arłukowicz with the labour court, independently of the other legal steps I intend to take in order to defend my good name and the reputation of the medical practice I run.
The Director of the Eye Tissue Bank, of which I was the initiator, founder and manager from the moment it was created 17 years ago, carries out its tasks in accordance with the legislation and rules which apply to it; it is a modern institution, organised according to the guidelines of international organisations, and uses the latest technology.
The Bank provides corneal lobes exclusively to the Ophthalmological Clinical Hospital in Warsaw or Collaborating Centres which have acquired them; every sample taken and every corneal lobe provided from1995 until now can be easily checked.
I do not feel responsible for any neglect whatsoever during my 14 years as National Consultant and Director of the Eye Tissue Bank.
The Laser Eye Microsurgery Centre, of which I am the owner and not a director, does not collaborate with the Eye Tissue Bank in Warsaw, and never has done, nor has it received any corneas from that Bank.
The “Laser”, where I occasionally operated on patients requiring urgent cornea transplants (3 transplants in 2011, 4 in 2012) fulfils the requirements necessary to conduct such operations, in terms of staff, equipment and premises.
The Centre obtained its material for transplants from the tissue bank in Zabrze, and in 2012 from the bank in Lublin, only in cases when there was no demand for corneas from other sources.
In 1989 I was an associate professor at the Silesian Medical University in Katowice.
At that time I registered my private Ophthalmology Practice where I gave ophthalmological advice.
The main reason for my private medical activity was and is to ensure transparent doctor-patient relations.
I have never met with a single accusation of corruption in my 43 years of practising.
In 1991, I won a nationwide competition to become Manager of the Ophthalmology Clinic at Department 2 of the Warsaw Medical University.
I then transferred my private ophthalmology practice to Warsaw, as a result of which for a period of 20 years:
I have been providing private services only, settling with the tax authorities on the basis of integrated accounts,
I have never applied for not signed a contract with the National Health Fund.
For 7 years, the Laser Eye Microsurgery Centre has been run by a Director, and I personally provide private consultations or conduct surgery 5 to 6 times per month.
After I began working in Warsaw, we carried out 60-80 cornea transplants per year at the Ophthalmology Clinic.
None of the four Polish centres which carried out cornea transplants at that time did more.
Convinced that it was necessary to organise a cornea bank in order to increase the number of transplants, I began making the arduous effort and thanks to the understanding and help of the then Health Minister, I managed to start the Eye Tissue Bank in Warsaw in 1995.
As a result, the number of corneas collected increased year by year to reach 564 in 2011.
The donors come from the Warsaw area, and the transplants are carried out on patients from all over Poland.
This has enabled 318 transplants, including 262 at the Ophthalmological Clinical Hospital which I run.
It is these results, and not slander, which tell the truth about the quality and effectiveness of the work I have done for the good of patients.
I will continue it for as long as my strength allows.
Prof.
Jerzy Szaflik MD
Warsaw, 18 August 2012.
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