Ewa Borek

Medical turism in Europe and in Poland – present status, development bariers, perspectives and recemendations concerning the development of medical tourism in Poland

Medical tourism occurs when patients or consumers decide to travel across borders in order to obtain various types of medical services. The most popular medical tourism services are: dental surgery, aesthetic medicine, plastic and general surgery and treatment of infertility. The development of medical tourism is a result of rising problems connected with health care financing even for rich countries and is supported by greater availability of information through the Internet and reduced travel expenses, due to the development of the network of cheap flights. Patients from richer, more developed countries travel to the poorer ones to obtain medical services at a price lower than in their own country.
According to the Polish Association of Medical Tourism, over 320,000 foreign patients visited Poland in 2011 in search of health or beauty, and the value of medical tourism market is estimated at PLN 780 million. Poland is a popular destination of health and beauty travels, due to the high quality of services and their relatively low prices, which attracts tourists - patients not only from Europe, but from all over the world. According to the Grail Research report, Poland could become Europe's one of the three most promising directions for foreign patients.

In order to become an export sector of the Polish economy, medical tourism needs coordinated promotional activities of the Polish government and public and private entities that are providers of services for foreign patients as well as building an information and international accreditation system, improving the quality of service and creating the legal environment conducive to the development of medical tourism in Poland.