Many refugees from Ukraine struggle with disease and urgently need medicines. Polish doctors want to help them, but still have concerns about prescribing reimbursed drugs. Ukrainians are currently not entitled to a refund. The Ministry of Health has announced changes to the regulations. When will they come into force?

  1. Every citizen of Ukraine, regardless of whether he or she requires hospitalization, specialist treatment on an outpatient basis, or the help of a family doctor, has the opportunity to obtain assistance — Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski announced
  2. Emergency treatment is one thing. Many Ukrainians coming to Poland also need prescriptions for reimbursed drugs. At the moment, they have to pay 100% for such drugs.
  3. Doctors are waiting for specific guidelines from the Ministry of Health or the National Health Fund
  4. The legislation should be adopted by parliament as a matter of urgency. They will apply retroactively from February 24 this year. – we found out in the ministry
  5. We hope that the law will enter into force this week – announced Deputy Minister of Health Waldemar Kraska
  6. You can follow up-to-date information from Ukraine in our LIVE REPORT
  7. More information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page

Poland will provide help to children from Ukraine

More than half a million Ukrainians fleeing the country attacked by Our Country have found their way to Poland. Poles rushed en masse to help the refugees. Providing them with a place to live, clothes or necessities to live is one thing. Many refugees also need prescription-only medicines. This also applies to reimbursed drugs, the full cost of which may exceed the financial capacity of people from Ukraine.

Polish doctors would be happy to provide support, but at the moment their hands are tied. There are no clear prescription guidelines for reimbursable drugs.

  1. Read also: UN alarms: the dramatic situation of women in Ukraine. “They won’t get help”

«Doctors are full of anxiety when prescribing prescriptions to Ukrainians. There is no information about entitlement to reimbursed drugs in the communications of the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund. Doctors are afraid that in 5/6 years the National Health Fund will demand reimbursement of the costs of prescribed medications. Recipes are being prepared and people need drugs already »- drug entry. Joanna Zabielska on Twitter is one of many similar voices on this matter.

The question was sent to the National Health Fund by doctors associated with the Alliance of Healthcare Employers. Medics declare that they provide medical services to Ukrainian citizens and want to know if these people are entitled to full assistance, e.g. can receive prescriptions for reimbursed drugs.

«Please confirm whether this law will also cover access to reimbursed drugs, foodstuffs for particular nutritional uses and medical devices, granted retroactively from February 24, 2022, and whether prescriptions can already be reimbursed for refugees from Ukraine, for those products displayed »- said the president of PPOZ, Bożena Janicka, in a letter to the president of the National Health Fund, Filip Nowak.

The rest of the text is below the video.

What does the Ministry of Health say?

We asked the Ministry of Health when it would be possible to issue prescriptions for reimbursed drugs to people arriving from Ukraine, who would bear the cost of such reimbursement, and whether doctors who are currently issuing such a prescription for themselves – there are such cases – have to take into account the consequences.

What have we learned?

“On behalf of the press spokesman, I would like to inform you that the ministry has prepared special legal solutions that enable the issuing of refunded prescriptions to Ukrainian citizens who fled to Poland before the war. The legislation should be adopted by Parliament as a matter of urgency. They will apply retroactively from February 24 this year.»— Wrote in response Jarosław Rybarczyk from the MZ Communication Office.

  1. Read also: Dr. Kukiz-Szczuciński: we evacuated 40 children with oncology from Ukraine

The Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska spoke in a similar vein during the Wednesday meeting of the Senate Health Committee.

—The law, which enters into force, will have retroactive effect. There are no refunds at the moment, there will be no refunds when the law appears. We hope it will come into effect this week – said Kraska. —We are talking about how to compensate for this period before there will be adequate regulations, added the deputy head of the Ministry of Health.

Prescription for reimbursed drugs – what does the law say?

Who is entitled to a prescription for reimbursed drugs? Pursuant to Art. 2 of the Act on health services financed from public funds, and thus also reimbursed drugs, «are entitled to persons residing in the territory of the Republic of Poland, who have Polish citizenship or have obtained the refugee status or subsidiary protection, or a temporary residence permit granted in connection with granting the refugee status or subsidiary protection ».

  1. Find out more: Medicines for those fighting in Ukraine. The Ministry of Health, GIS and URPL urge not to collect them on your own

As the praw.pl website points out, at the moment Ukrainians should not apply for refugee status, because the government is preparing a fast path for them, although of course they can apply for subsidiary protection. However, if they do not have such a status or the right to a temporary residence permit, the doctor may issue them with a full-paid prescription.

—When the prescription is issued with the wrong degree of reimbursement for an unauthorized person, its implementation contrary to the regulations takes place when the drug is purchased at the pharmacy. Of course, we are looking for a solution so that these people do not pay 100 percent. Perhaps it will be a post-factum reimbursement of expenses incurred. We are aware of this problem, but we are working on the best possible solution – said Filip Nowak, president of the National Health Fund at the meeting of the Joint Government and Local Government Commission.

Also read:

  1. Free medical assistance for people from Ukraine. Where can you find help?
  2. Ivan stayed in Lviv to defend his homeland. His girlfriend has been waiting at the border for two days
  3. Oxygen supplies in Ukrainian hospitals are running out. The threat returns
  4. Three children were born on the Polish side of the border. Their mothers fled Ukraine

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