On 30th October 2014, during the gala ceremony at the Polonia Palace Hotel in Warsaw, we got to know the winners of the ‘Golden Scalpel’ contest for the outstanding innovator in Polish medicine organized by the “Pulse of the Medicine”. Prof. Skarżyński had been recognized for the project “The Program of Detection of Hearing Defects in Schoolchildren in Poland and Worldwide”.

The awarded program is the effect of Institute’s steadily developed collaboration in Poland and worldwide, promotion of Polish achievements in fields of otolaryngology and audiology, and programs popularizing good medical practice among specialists from countries where medicine and healthcare are less developed.

The pilot programs of hearing screening in school children are a continuation of actions undertaken during the Polish Presidency in the European Union. The Institute coordinated at that time one of the Priorities of the Ministry of Health. Its work resulted in development and acceptance by ministers of all member states of the EU Council Conclusion on early detection and treatment of communication disorders in children, including the use of innovative technologies and eHealth tools.

This year, the “Golden scalpel” has been awarded to the team led by professor Adam Torbicki, for the project ‘Baloon angioplasty of pulmonary arteries and creation of the first Polish Interdisciplinary Team for Interventional Cardiology, Radiology and Cardiosurgery of Pulmonary Circulation’.