EN
The survey of the teaching of history of medicine at medical schools in Poland presented in the paper covers the organizational framework of institutions concerned with the history of medicine and their staff, as well as the place of the subject in curricula. Despite an overall positive assessment, especially with regard to the teaching staff, the prospects are not optimistic. There is a widespread tendency to make medicine a science of an exclusively biological nature. The rapid development of contemporary medicine and pharmacy is conducive to eliminating from curricula everything that is not of direct use to the future profession of the students. Medical schools are now facing a reorganization. The paper thus carries a plea directed to all representatives of medical sciences in the authorities of tertiary educational institutions, as well as in decision-making bodies for tertiary education in Poland, to preserve and develop humanistic instruction in medical schools. This has to do not only with the intellectual development of future physicians, but also concerns shaping appropriate attitudes to doctor-patient relations, which are the main source of complaints with regard to the deficiencies of medicine.