The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw has once again confirmed that patients have the right to be treated only with methods that are in line with current medical knowledge. The court dismissed two complaints by a medical entity that used salinomycin, vitamin C and curcumin infusions, and...
On October 10 this year, the presidium of the Council of Patient Organizations at the Patient Ombudsman, which brings together 150 organizations, issued an appeal to Prime Minister Donald Tusk regarding the deepening financial crisis at the National Health Fund. The growing deficit in the...
A phone number is not enough. The clinic must answer. The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that medical entities are obliged to provide patients with a real possibility of contacting the registration by phone. This confirms the position of the Patient Ombudsman, who has been pointing out...
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so the topic of prevention of these cancers is making a comeback. More and more Polish women are beginning to treat breast cancer prevention as an important part of taking care of their health, and check-ups are becoming a regular item on their agenda of...
Those who have received benefits from the Medical Event Compensation Fund can count not only on financial support, but also on additional entitlements. The new solution gives the opportunity to receive health services and pharmaceutical services out of turn, based on a special certificate issued...
As of September 30, 2025, provisions amending the Law on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with Armed Conflict enter into force. The changes relate to access to health care services for adults whose residence in Poland is recognized as legal under the speculative law.
I don't see any reason, other than political, why the president, the bishops, politicians, undermine the need for health education and the competence of teachers. I just don't agree with it," Barbara Nowacka, Minister of National Education, said at a Monday conference on health education.
As of September 6, 2025, higher rates of benefits from the Medical Event Compensation Fund are in effect. This solution, introduced at the initiative of Patient Ombudsman Bartholomew Chmiellow, allows patients and their relatives to get financial support faster without the need for lengthy...
Starting September 9, 2025, patients will receive e-referrals for free COVID-19 vaccinations for the 2025/2026 season. Registration for appointments will start on September 15, and the vaccinations themselves will begin a week later.
Nurseries and kindergartens are not allowed to demand certificates from parents about their child's health, which means that family doctors are not obliged to issue them! - If, despite everything, establishments try to impose their rules, parents can, and should, report this to the Ombudsman for...
On why health education should accompany children from kindergarten, how to impart knowledge in an attractive way, and why habits formed in the first years of life stay with us forever - in an interview with Medexpress - Michal Brzezinski, MD, PhD, from the Department of Pediatrics,...
Doctors have been sounding the alarm for months about the availability of magazines promising to "cure" serious diseases with cabbage or horseradish in Post Office facilities. We have the Polish Post's response.
- The period after returning from vacation is a crucial time to either rebuild positive habits or lose them altogether. The main obstacle is often psychological rather than physiological. Therefore, the narrative needs to move away from "repairing the damage" to "a gentle return to a supportive...
The therapeutic advances made in lung cancer over the past few years have been called a revolution by experts. New drugs are hitting cancer cells more and more precisely, patients are living longer and better quality of life. Most importantly, this progress is still ongoing. On World Lung Cancer...
The Ombudsman has received reports that in some hospitals patients are not provided with basic accessories such as cutlery for eating meals. The Ombudsman's Office has approached the Ministry of Health about the issue, stressing that proper feeding conditions are part of the health service and...
Although this summer's thesis is not confirmed, climate change is making us urgently prepare to function in extremely high temperatures. Heat waves, or days when the daytime temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, especially if accompanied by tropical nights, have a large and negative impact on...
Why shouldn't one drink excessively with certain citrus fruits if one is going to sunbathe? What is the danger of rolling around in a meadow where wild parsnips grow? Why are gloves mandatory when harvesting celery? Where do blisters on the skin come from after a glass of St. John's wort...
Since April, a drug has been available in Poland that gives hope to patients with early breast cancer that the disease will not return. However, not all of them do. Those with smaller tumors and no involved lymph nodes unfortunately still live in fear of relapse. Anna Kupiecka of the OnkoCafe-...
One bank and an insurance company may be overstepping their authority by demanding customers' medical test results - including radiology and an HIV test - as a condition for granting a mortgage and taking out an insurance contract. The Ombudsman has received complaints from citizens. The...
Although the National Oncology Strategy was supposed to be a comprehensive response to the needs of cancer patients, from the perspective of the last five years it appears more like a document full of unrealized promises and political formalism. The Alivia Oncofoundation, in its latest report,...
- The use of nicotine substitutes in some people addicted to smoking cigarettes can support the process of quitting, says Dominika Mastalerz, a psychologist specializing in addiction, in an interview with Medexpress. As she points out, it is important for a person who wants to quit smoking to...
The Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector has issued a decision to withdraw four series of the popular drug Magne B6 in the form of film-coated tablets from the market. The reason is that these series did not meet the quality requirements for one of the key ingredients - vitamin B6.
Adequate nutrition for patients in hospitals is not a luxury, but a key part of treatment - it affects the effectiveness of therapy, reduces the length of hospitalization and reduces the risk of complications. The new regulation is expected to introduce uniform standards for hospital nutrition,...
In 2024, more than 1.3 million appointments were lost in Poland - many of which could have been avoided if patients had easier access to tools to cancel them quickly. A new "Guide to Appointment Cancellation Tools," presented by the organizers of the #Cancel #NotBlocking campaign, is the answer...
Children's Rights Ombudswoman Monika Horna-Cieślak has asked hospitals to come up with rules on visiting and providing extra nursing care for hospitalized children by their parents or guardians. She has sent letters to 489 facilities in the country on this issue.
Long-term illness, disability and inflation are the biggest concerns of young Poles. They rarely think about future retirement, according to a survey conducted by ZUS among 18-25 year olds. Their knowledge of the social security system is incomplete, and they mainly look for sources of...
There won't be good accessibility to modern therapies without ensuring significantly higher health expenditures," Vice President of the National Health Fund Jakub Szulc said during a discussion dedicated to civilization diseases at the Patient Empowerment Congress. The panel dedicated to diseases...
Professor Anna Jeznach-Steinhagen, from the Department of Clinical Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Warsaw Medical University, talks about how continuous glycemic monitoring systems have changed patients' lives.
With two months to go before the planned end of the pilot program in mental health centers, it is still unclear whether the idea of community psychiatry will continue and on what terms. Despite assurances from the Health Ministry about the priority of this form of care, the lack of clear...
Paweł Wójtowicz, president of the Matio Foundation - Foundation for Helping Families and Patients with Cystic Fibrosis, talks about how cystic fibrosis is treated in Poland.
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