Wykonywanie zadań publicznych przez Państwową Inspekcję Sanitarną w czasie pandemii COVID-19. Refleksje i postulaty
Conducting public tasks by the State Sanitary Inspection during a COVID-19 pandemic. Reflections and demands

Summary/Abstract: The period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland significantly affected the scope and the form, quality, and availability of public services. The State Sanitary Inspectorate, an institution with an interesting and long history, responsible for public health activities, experienced these changes in two ways, being responsible for pandemic activities, but also like any organization, any public administration unit, operating in a situation of lockdowns and limitation. The hypothesis of the representativeness of the State Sanitary Inspectorate for the public administration, as well as for the health units, makes it possible to put forward some postulates. The aim of this article is to analyze the changes occurring in the process of performing public tasks during a pandemic, observed in the example of the State Sanitary Inspectorate, which can, however, be seen as symptomatic of public administration as well as health services. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic remodelled the functioning of the State Sanitary Inspection. In the first place, staffing, budgetary and technical deficiencies became apparent. The postponement for years of a well-prepared and comprehensive program of digitization of public administration had a negative effect. At the same time, dissatisfied customers used the regulations on access to public information, among others, to obstruct the state’s activities. The crisis management system did not work. The case of the performance of public tasks by the State Sanitary Inspectorate during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland provokes a wider discussion about the structure of government administration and the division of its tasks.

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