Is cancer treatment in Poland covered free of cost or almost free of cost for people registered in NFZ/ZUS?

Is cancer treatment covered free of cost or almost free of cost for people registered in NFZ/ZUS?

The treatment and future drug prescriptions are free under the NFZ , my wife had breast cancer and has to take anastrozol.

Registered with the Oncology also gets priority for scans and other medical care.

To be honest I took the private route in the UK to get it chopped out as fast as we could.

The treatment is free to the point it's standard, approved by the gov and all that. If you have to go abroad for some new or experimental treatment then you are on your own

Btw, sorry to hear that Dolno, hope all is good

Yeah it was two years ago, but the oestrogen blocker tablets (five years) are a nightmare to live with, its created menopause on steroids, thinning of hair ,hot flushes once an hour, it's to stop it reoccurring so she lives with it, but for info the prescriptions are free.

Send her my love. Of course it's better than the disease but it can still be a pain in the bottom.

Sorry to hear that Dolno, my best wishes to her as well.


I read something recently about this, about how there's a growing tendency in Poland to ignore Polish treatment and to believe in miracle cures instead, which aren't proven. Italy and Switzerland are quite bad for offering such unproven treatments, apparently.

Well, in sickness people are getting desperate. Sadly there are people that use it.

I've been bombarded with ads recently for something called 'normobaric therapy' (after googling certain cancers due to someone close who had and is now better). It seems to exist only in Poland and as far as I can see has no effects either positive or negative. It does cost money though.

At least 'MMS' and the fake cancer treatment 'black salve' (whih does zero good and a lot of harm) don't seem to have reached Poland yet.


Sorry to hear about this. Thinking of you.

My husband had thyroid cancer last summer and everything was covered 100%. Only issue for some could be transportation. There are only 2 places in Poland that threat this cancer, Poznań and Gliwice and we live in Bydgoszcz.

I had one more question, Doctors have asked me to undergo biopsy, NFZ has asked me to wait for 15 days and get operated on 15th and wait for results for 2 - 6 weeks, is is possible to take a private way and do it using a private hospital in Poland?

@dolno, I'm sorry that your wife has to go through this, send her hugs from me...


My father went to a private visit to a doctor and he told him he can have a surgery in his private clinic on NFZ. Generally, my impression is that if you go to a private visit everything goes faster and the surgeon is more interested in you later on at the hospital... My father at that private clinic had great care, he was alone in his room, there was bathroom in the room, TV and anesthesiologist even brought him tea...

Hey thanks she rang the bell after the radiation therapy lets hope it don't come back.

But please anyone who has a wife or daughter over 25 make sure they get a mammogram every year even if you pay for it, if they catch it early enough it can be cured, DON'T WAIT UNTIL YOU FIND A LUMP PLEASE .......

In the UK it's not routinely offered to those under 50, not sure about in Poland and the EU. Sorry to hear your wife had to go through that dolno.

Caron Keating many others have died from breast cancer and they were under 50, It cost us 100zl for a private mammogram, small change do it.

@Paulina
I am finding it a challenge to find out who can perform "open biopsy of L1 spinosus process" , I have made calls to many szpitals like European Health Center Otwock, ENEL MED WARSAW and it seems none perform this.

@Paulina I have gone to Othopaedic , Neurologist, etc,. now I dont know who can give me referral for going to a private clinic, seems medicover performs this kind of biopsy but I am confused why they didn't give me this option earlier .....

@devil_storage, so your surgery is that open biopsy?
I don't think you need any referral to a private clinic. If they perform this procedure at Medicover then simply get a private visit with the doctor who does it there, take all the test results with you and tell him you'd like to be done faster. Mind you, waiting for two weeks for a surgery is pretty standard... Btw, if you're booked already for that open biopsy at a public hospital then don't resign from it, keep it in case something doesn't work out with that private route. My father did just that and after he had his surgery at that private clinic, they called from the public hospital to inform him that his planned surgery had been rescheduled for later and he would probably have it done in spring due to doctors at that hospital going down with COVID-19... So, you never know, I guess it's better to have more than one option...