An incredible leap in the career of a scandalous character in the past: without a medical education, he received the highest position in the hospital.

The former president of the Nationalist Union has experienced many twists and turns in his career. He was most remembered by the public for organizing the March 11 march in Vilnius. For many, he encountered one of the brightest slogans “Lithuania for Lithuanians”. As a result, he was accused of Nazi views in public.

J. Panka himself, according to his publicly available biographical data, in 2001. has acquired the training of history professor at the former Vilnius Pedagogical University (VPU), as well as in 2017. he is a Master of Sociology in Well-being.

It is observed that in 2001-2002 in 2002-2003 he worked as an educator at the Gilė orphanage in Vilnius; He was a history teacher at Vilnius Žirmūnai Gymnasium and Vilnius Vilnies Basic School. Since 2003 J. Panka worked as a manager in the Bigreta limited liability company (boat, kayak and miniature trade), later several jobs in other private commercial companies.

His work until 2016 caused the biggest stir. in the Lidl trading system where the worker was. On this occasion, the media was the main surprise of how he could work for a German company when he offered to buy a T-shirt with the inscription “Yes! I am “homophobic”. The supermarket representatives, however, were reluctant to punish him, despite the fact that the employment relationship was eventually broken.

2017-2018 J. Panka was recruited by the Vilnius branch of the Board of the State Social Insurance Fund as a lead specialist. lives and works in Kupiškis in February. 2018-2021 was the chief specialist of the municipal administration of the Kupiškis district (coordinator of interinstitutional cooperation). Since 2021 he is the director of the public institution Hospital Kupiškis.

S. Malinauskas wrote on his Facebook account that it was really unexpected for him that J. Panka could occupy that position.

“Director of the Kupiškis Hospital? How does a person who has completed a history at a pedagogical university, worked as a salesperson in a shopping center and as a sales manager in a company that currently employs 2 employees with no medical education and experience as a manager of an institution become a manager of a hospital? How is this possible even in theory? What would you think if you were an employee or a patient at this hospital? After all, this is utter nonsense. And even during a pandemic, when burdens have increased so much, the responsibility of doctors is the same, ”he asked publicly.

There are no people who want to work

The former nationalist leader became director of the Kupiškis Hospital when he won a contest in February, in which he was the only participant. By order of the Ministry of Health, applicants must have a higher education in biomedicine or social sciences or an education equivalent to this.

Kupiškis d. Mayor Dainius Bardauskas Delfi commented that the job description has been approved by the Minister of Health and J. Panka complied with everything.

“It just came to our notice then. If someone had pushed, it would have been fine, but only one person complained,” the mayor said.

Asked if his municipalities were not intimidated by the past of the former nationalist leader, D. Bardauskas commented that everyone can have some kind of past.

“We live in the present and look to the future. The question of whether to bully or not is, I would say, not entirely correct. Yes, we all know that person, but he came to work in the Kupiškis municipality to work as a civil servant and was the coordinator of interinstitutional cooperation.

It was not only evaluated by the municipal administration during that time. The man showed that he has certain competencies, not only have I decided, but also, in the end, there is a commission ”, the mayor pointed out.

Speaking about the chair of the director of the Kupiškis Hospital, he said that perhaps a person with a medical education would be more desirable.

“It just came to our attention then. Definitely not only in our area they offered, they took walks, but the situation is as it is. Many refused because they probably do not see any perspective for this hospital, the situation is really difficult due to the doctors and other things. It is really difficult to find a person and not only the Kupiškis Hospital, but all the hospitals in the small districts face it, “said D. Bardauskas.

At the same time, he hinted that a new reform is planned, so that people want more stability and security and do not rush to work in those places. He said he had no major complaints about Pank’s work.

Surprised for man attack

J. Panka commented that he was very surprised by the post published by S. Malinauskas about his new job.

“I respected Skirmantas Malinauskas as a fairly objective journalist and even followed some of his struggles with representatives of perhaps the criminal world. He was really quite interesting and surprised by such an ad hominem attack. There are also such strange accusations that I worked for Lidl about six years ago as if I had committed a crime.

In other words, I didn’t go to the Job Board, I didn’t ask for some kind of benefit because I never really had unemployment status in my life. Thank God, even though he says, never give up on turmeric, stick, and beggar’s terba. I really tried not to be afraid of any job all the time, and I am proud to have had to work as a freight forwarder, whether at Lidl or elsewhere, “he said.

He also said that he was happy to be in charge of the Kupiškis district. hospital, entered a formal competition and met the approved qualification requirements.

“Both my work experience and my education coincided. By the way, I was interested in the education of S. Malinauskas, we have both graduated from Mykolas Romeris University with a master’s degree, I don’t know, maybe it is devalued.

I have a masters degree in sociology and I am currently studying another subject at the university. I am expanding my knowledge and skills and that attack really surprised me. I understand that maybe our political views differ from him, but I respect his views, so I would like the same respect for my people, “explained J. Panka.

When asked if he was still involved in politics, he replied that he was currently a regular member of the Christian Union, led by Rimantas Jonas Dagys.

“I am a regular member at this stage, I do not run a department or any council. Clearly, there have been all kinds of ambiguous evaluations of what I did ten or more years ago. I really think that a lot was said and injustice was said, I could not always defend my views.

On accusations of Nazism, I have certainly repeatedly rebuked both Nazism and Communism in my newspaper articles and interviews. I truly believe that both Stalin and Hitler have done enormous damage to humanity, “said Panka.