If foreign visitors fall ill while holidaying in Poland, they can pay to use the services of the Polish healthcare system. If they took out the appropriate insurance before they set off, the costs of treatment in Poland will be refunded when they get back home.

Medicines

A wide variety of painkillers, vitamins and cold treatments can be bought without prescription in any Polish supermarket, drugstore or kiosk. As well as Polish-produced medicines, products from the best-known international pharmaceutical manufacturers are also readily available. To obtain medicines which have been prescribed by a doctor, you must visit a pharmacy (apteka).

Before you set off

Before every journey, you should take all necessary precautions to make things easier in case of an accident or illness. It could be invaluable to have information on your blood group with you as well as other factors of medical significance; for example, information that you suffer from epilepsy or diabetes or wear contact lenses. Write this information on a card in English or Polish and place it in your wallet or passport to enable swift medical action in cases where communication is difficult (loss of consciousness or post-traumatic shock).

In case of an accident, sudden illness, injury, poisoning or life-threatening conditions, you are entitled to receive all forms of medical treatment without a referral. In such cases, you should go to a hospital immediately. If you are not able to get to a hospital yourself, quickly call an ambulance (tel. 999 from a landline or public phone, 112 from a cell phone). In emergencies where life is endangered, ambulance transport is free of charge.