POLAND: Growth predicted for Polish medical tourism

In a new research report “Poland Medical Tourism Market 2013 – An Untapped Opportunity”, Insight Market Research Solutions (IMRS) has identified Poland as one of the most promising destinations for medical tourism in Europe. In recent years patients from countries like the UK and Germany have visited hospitals and clinics in Poland for medical consultations and treatments. The huge differential in treatment cost has driven the inflow of patients from other countries to Poland. The entry of Poland into the European Union has also resulted in a positive thrust to medical tourism. The report gives a brief overview on the existing healthcare infrastructure in Poland in terms of number of public and private hospitals, medical personnel, and health resorts.

According to the report, the medical tourism industry in Poland has the potential to grow, driven by association and government support coupled with increasing number of private healthcare facilities. IMRS anticipates more than 15% annual growth for revenue in coming years due to increasing flow of medical tourists and rising per capita expenditure by medical tourist on treatments and surgery.

IMRS anticipates Poland will be able to overcome the challenge of India, Singapore and Thailand due to its proximity to European countries and presence of well-trained medical experts similar to western countries. Poland will continue to attract large number of medical tourists from other European countries due to less travel time and absence of visa requirement for travel within European Union borders, compared with travelling to Asia.

According to estimates from the Polish Association of Medical Tourism (PSTM), between 300,000 and 330,000 people visit Poland annually and spend an average of 1156 euro on voluntary medical and dental procedures such as porcelain crowns, breast augmentation, or dental implants. Artur Gosk of PSTM says. “If we can maintain a high level of service, these competitive prices will promote themselves.” PTSM reports that people are coming to Poland mainly from Germany, the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries to seek cheaper medical treatment at Polish clinics.

PSTM has agreed to form a consortium together with the Polish Tourism Organization (POT) and representatives of the country’s health industry. POT is inviting the health ministry and local governments to cooperate to advertise medical tourism in Poland.