[Surgery of the hand in Poland--a controversial issue]

Since hand surgery separated from orthopedic and general surgery as an independent subspeciality, the problem of training new surgery came into life. Many studies indicate that a country with Poland's population should have about 250-300 trained hand surgeons. Current estimates show that there are three to four times less hand surgeons than necessary. The establishment of the Section of Hand Surgery by the Polish Orthopedic Society in 1965 and the founding of the Polish Society for Surgery of the Hand (1998) made formal ground for taking up both training in hand surgery and assenting it as a separate clinical sub-category. No official statement has been made in this matter neither by the Ministry of Health or by any scientific society. The authors suggest the need for organizing a system for training and achieving certified qualifications in hand surgery, for example like the FESSH European diploma in hand surgery. It seems that this matter should be discussed broadly among both general and orthopedic surgeons in order to create a separate sub-category for hand surgery.