Medical exemption from a Polish doctor to justify my absence - Hospital Warsaw.

Hello.

I suffer soft migrane, so I must receive a medical exemption from a Polish doctor to justify my absence in some activities in the university where I study as international student.

Can you tell me where should I go in Warsaw to get one? What hospitals do you recommend? Do you know any public hospital in Warsaw with staff that talk in English?

I live near Banacha Hospital, would it be a good option?

Please give me some advide, I need it actually quickly.

Thank you.

Call private insurance,medicover,damian,luxmed or any take an appointment asking for an english speaking doctor,will probably cost you 80/100pln.

Why hospital? A hospital is a good place if you break a leg, you need an operation, or if you have some kind of a severe disease. If you have just a migrene (or things like flu etc.) and you need a sick leave, you go to a doctor in a local clinic (in Polish: przychodnia), not to a hospital.

If you are from one of the EU countries and you have the EHIC card (in Poland known as EKUZ) with you, you go to any public "przychodnia" with a GP doctor ("lekarz rodzinny" or "internista"). I have no experience with that since Polish is my mother tongue, but I belive that medical doctors are educated people and they should know English, although you may have some problems with the language at the registration counter where you have to go first after coming to "przychodnia". It would be a good idea to take someone who speaks Polish with you.

If you are from the EU and you don't have the EHIC, as far as I know, you can pay and get the money back later in your country, although I don't know the details, you have to check it.

If you are from outside of the EU and you study in Poland, you probably have some kind of medical insurance bought by yourself, then you should contact your insurance company, they should tell you where to go.

To find a public clinic you can go to this website: zip.nfz.gov.pl/GSL/GSL/POZ - unfortunately in Polish only.
You select your province in the "Województwo" field, then in the "Miejscowość" field you type in the name of your city/town (Polish diacritic characters needed), in case of some cities it may be possible to select the city name together with the district - although it may not find all of them. It's also possible to enter the street in the "Ulica" field.

All of them are also marked by an NFZ sign next to the entrance: NFZ Poland

Some of them are in fact private, but they have agreements with the institution responsible for the public health care (NFZ) so that for those who are entitled to free health care in the public clinics it's also free to have a treatment there. They are also listed on this website and they also have the NFZ sign next to the entrance.

Have a look at the websites of your university for the international students, or of the ESN section at your university - they may also have some information on where to get medical help close to the university, and where they know English.

The EHIC card is for treatment only. It is not for a doctor to do a sick-note excusing you from anything. You will have to find a private doctor (approx cost 100-150 pln) who will do such a note for you.

And if, perchance you do have to use a przychodnia, make sure that you have your Passport with you and evidence of where you live.

Terri, it doesn't work like that. He only needs a note from the doctor saying that he's sick - he doesn't need a formal sick note. There's a difference between the two, and any doctor will be happy to confirm that he's been treated. There's no need for a private doctor in the slightest - even the night duty doctors can write such a note. Universities don't need formal sick notes, except for exams.

Best to go along with a Polish buddy and not to count on English (or whatever language)! For sure private medical centers claim on their portals that Dr X or Dr Y speaks X or Y language but when we meet said doctor, it happens in 99.98% of time that the socalled knowledge of language is at best A1 level.

All I can say is that when I needed a prescription (I knew exactly which items I needed), I had to find a private doctor (cost 100 pln) for him to write me a prescription, which I paid in full at a cost of 25 pln. I could not buy the items myself as they needed to be on prescription.

It is unlikely that a Polish doctor from NFZ will issue 'a note' for nothing. That was my point.

That's really odd, because the NFZ doesn't care about these things. If you've got the EHIC, they charge the full amount to the UK anyway. I've never heard of any NFZ doctor turning away EHIC patients - if anything, it's better for them because they can charge the full amount of the treatment rather than what they get from the NFZ.

A Polish doctor is not going to fuss over writing a two second note saying "so and so was sick and was given x".

My local drop-in clinic prints a document for every patient with their name, address and full details of the treatment. It's given to everyone regardless if they're using NFZ insurance, private insurance, paying privately or through the EHIC.

The only time you might encounter trouble is with some very old school clinic where everything is done exactly as it was in 1950. But many GP's are private with a contract with the NFZ.

Well, if you are sick so that you cannot come to the classes at the university, the doctor should write a sick leave. The only exception is any planned treatment, like when you need an operation, but it's not urgent. This is not covered by the EHIC. But everything that is needed at the specific moment (so also a sick leave if the doctor decides that you should stay at home) - EHIC entitles you for that. Another thing is when you aren't sick in fact and you need a fake sick leave, no doctor will do it for free (and it's much more likely to work if you go private), but it's illegal and it's a kind of bribery in fact...


Isn't a real formal sick note, commonly known as "L-4" (this was in the past the symbol of the official form for that, now it's "ZUS some letters"), issued only to the employed people? Such a sick leave must be reported by the doctor to proper institutions so that they are able to verify whether you really stay at home and not work illegally anywhere else than at your employer.

Sometimes the doctors claim that they are not obliged to issue any sick note if you are not employed (even when the school/university accepts only sick leaves issued by doctors, necessarily with two stamps: of the doctor and of the clinic), and that's true, no law obliges them to do that (but what should you do then?), however, they finally do it when you ask them for that. It's from my experience.


Hm... Basically even in case of the Polish citizens, if the computer system shows that the you not insured, but you know you are, you have a right to sign a statement where you confirm that you are insured. But then you have to explain it with your employer, who is responsible for paying for your health insurance (in case of people who don't work yet, it's the employer of any of the employed family members). Not a long time ago it was so that everyone had a special booklet ("legitymacja ubezpieczeniowa", commonly known also as "książeczka zdrowia") when the employer stamped that the employee is insured, then they were going to introduce the computer system, but they didn't manage to do it on time, so you could use either your old "książeczka zdrowia" (but they weren't issued any more), or you had to show a document from your employer confirming that they transferred the money for your health insurance to the ZUS (ZUS RMUA form), but now everything is finally computerized and you basically don't need any document other than your identity card or passport.

Sometimes you may have to quarrel with the ladies at the registration counter, you may have to call the NFZ (the phone numbers are here:

nfz.gov.pl/kontakt/infolinie-nfz/ - the middle column in the row dependent on the province, but don't expect them to speak English; you may also have to wait some time to get the connection with a consultant), but I anyway believe that the people in the "przychodnia" will know what EHIC is.

Sometimes it may happen that they will have no more time that day to arrange a visit at the doctor, then you may try to call other "przychodnia" and ask there. But anyway someone speaking Polish should do it.

There is also a guide in English on the NFZ website:
ekuz.nfz.gov.pl/en/info_dla_uprawnionych_z_innych/general-information-concerning-access-health-care-during-temporary-st

Here:
ekuz.nfz.gov.pl/hidden_main_page/kontakt
if you select your province, you will get phone numbers to the inernational department of NFZ, the proper phone number will be described as "Informacje dla uprawnionych z innych państw członkowskich UE/EFTA" ("Information for the entitled from the other EU/EFTA member states") - if this is a phone number for the foreigners, it's more likely that they will speak English there.


For clearity, it's about Polish citizens, of course - they don't have foreigners in their database and you need EHIC if you come from abroad.

I've read the whole thread very carefully.
In my case, my problem was that I only hold a British passport (with the EHIC card), but I needed a prescription from a doctor. This was not an emergency or any other doctor/hospital treatment. I understand that in case where an emergency happens, (e.g. you get knocked down, you fall and break your leg), Polish NFZ treatment is covered, but before any treatment is offered (unless life-threatening), this has to be agreed with your own holiday insurance company.

I know of a man who had an unexpected heart attack, he went to hospital and the treatment he received was speedy and excellent - he said that had he been in Scotland (where he came from) he would have been dead.

It shouldn't have been a problem - it was probably just the individual GP/clinic being idiotic. There's a lot of Brits here using EHIC cards for years without any problems whatsoever - the NHS has (unsurprisingly) failed to deal with the epic amount of abuse. A friend of mine is on his 3rd EHIC since 2004 and hasn't paid a penny to the UK government in that time.

No, it doesn't work so.

EHIC works so that you can get any treatment that is needed for you from the medical point of view (so permanent medicines too) at the given time, which cannot be delayed safely. On the conditions equal with the citizens of the country you are in. EHIC exist just in order for you not to have to buy any extra travel insurance while travelling within the EU.

It works not only in emergency situations. For example - I am for student exchange in Germany (I am from Poland). I got once sick, with high fever, and the main symptoms vanished quite quickly, I was virtually "healthy" on the next day, but what stayed was a very strong cough. When it hadn't disappear for over a week, I went to a doctor to have myself examined if it's nothing more severe. And with EHIC it didn't cost me anything, neither had I any problems at the clinic (although it was a small private one, of the "two doctors and a registration lady" type, since such clinics are typical for Germany).