Recent study carried out by the Polish Association of Medical Tourism revealed that Poland’s medical tourism industry has been experiencing a constant growth in the last few years.
According to the study, foreign patients spent about PLN 1.5 bln (as of today: about EUR 340 mln) on medical care in Poland in 2015, which is about 15% more than the year before.
Polish dentists seem to have convinced foreigners not to be afraid of them anymore
Who travels and why?
Data presented by the Polish Association of Medical Tourism shows that that medical tourists come from all over the world, including the USA and Canada, but it is mainly people from Great Britain, Germany and Scandinavian countries who visit Poland to consult a doctor there. In most cases they have heard about the top quality offered by the Polish medical staff and competitive prices there, so they go to Poland to try it out and they usually come back again.
Poland’s most-wanted
It turned out that Polish most-wanted physicians are dentists and plastic surgeons, which brings us back to competitive prices that make such services attractive, even for people who have to bear some travel expenses to get their problems fixed. We’ve checked for the average prices of dental services in Poland, Great Britain, Germany and Sweden:
| medical service | Poland | Great Britain | Germany | Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| patient’s examination new/routine | 50 zloty/free | £35/£30 | €15/€15 | 300 kr/300 kr |
| white fillings | from 100 zloty | from £50 | from €50 | from 400 kr |
| crown | from 1,200 zloty | from £350 | from €350 | from 3,000 kr |
| simple/surgical extraction | 100 zloty/250 zloty | from £70/£250 | from €50/€250 | from 250 kr/600 kr |
| root canal treatment | from 200 zloty | from £200 | from €200 | from 1,000 kr |
| implant | from 2,000 zloty | from £1,600 | from €1,600 | from 6,000 kr |
| fixed orthodontic appliance (single arch) | from 1,500 zloty | from £2,000 | from €2,000 | from 5,000 kr |
Are the patients Polish emigrants?
No. The study was aimed at people of different origin only, Poles living abroad were not counted in, unless they were born and raised outside Poland.
According to the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, about a quarter of Poles living abroad come back home regularly to see their GPs, although they have free access to the local health care facilities. Many of them combine their holidays in Poland with catching up on their health, and they usually see more than just one doctor during their stay. Gazeta Wyborcza quotes some reasons for that:
We go to see a doctor in Poland because we know him since years and we trust him.
Medical services in Great Britain are unsatisfactory, especially for pregnant women. It’s so hard to get to a gynaecologist there! They always send you to a midwife.
Polish surgeons are known to be top ones, so whenever I, or someone in my family, needs one, we just take a flight and go there.
European Health Insurance Card
It is all so simple because EU citizens have free access to the health care services in all the member countries. All they need is the European Health Insurance Card that not only allows them to report to the nearest hospital in the event of accident, injury, poisoning or a life-threatening condition, but also to handle their regular doctor and medical specialist appointments.
Satisfied patients spread the word around the world and here we are now: people from as far as the USA, Canada or Australia seem to appreciate Polish medical services, which means that Poland’s must-see is now – among others – also a doctor.
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