ABSTRACT
Public funds accumulated in the accounts of the National Health Fund were portrayed by the mass media as a proof of the development of social infrastructure. A significant role was also played by the mistakes made in the development of social infrastructure, compounded by numerous organizational changes, including the negative effects of the introduction in 1975 of a new administrative division for the country. In centrally planned economies, the social infrastructure includes all the specialized centers and equipment serving to satisfy the needs of an individual and the family, as well as the needs of local and regional communities. In Poland, the institutions that are in charge of social infrastructure equipment and facilities are owned by the state or by large cooperative organizations and enjoy a monopoly position. The existing organizational structure of public infrastructure brings about a "hierarchization" of services.
