POLAND - Medical Device Industry and Demographic Data

Shown below you will find some basic demographic and economic data, plus information specific to the medical device and healthcare industry.

Capital city: Warsaw

Total area: 313000 km²

Population: 38.5 million

Currency: Zloty

Language: Polish

Structure of population:
0-14 years: 15%
15-64 years: 71.6%
65 years and over: 13.4% (2009 est.)

Healthcare expenditure: $965 per capita (at int. $ rate, 2007 data)

Number of hospitals: 835 (2005 data)

Healthcare financing: Healthcare is financed by independent sickness funds and subsequently by the National Health Fund. Sickness funds has incorporated separate fees for medical procedures, distinguishing hospitalizations by lengths of stay, financing separately hospital admission rooms, and introducing, but to a limited extent, systems organized according to diagnosis-related groups. Physicians are paid per capita on the basis of patient lists. A basic rate is usually adopted and differentiated by age group. Rates lack uniformity and vary throughout the country.

Medical device industry: The Polish market for medical devices has changed dramatically in the last decade. In particular, Poland's entrance to the European Union in 2004 has made the newest medical technology available for the country. Altogether, it can be observed that the gap between the developed countries and Poland is still large, but narrowing. The total volume of the medical devices market in Poland has increased steadily over the past years. In 2007 the market is valued at $1563 million. In 2005 Poland consumed €580 million in medical devices. The trade of medical devices is dominated by imports. Although Poland has a strong industrial base it imports about 80 % of its medical devices. The import volume in 2005 increased by 27% compared to 2004. In some product groups the import volume increased by 100%. Over the past years, the export value of the Polish medical device market increased considerably. In the third quarter of 2006, the domestic manufacturers sold goods worth approximately 310 m EUR. Compared to the previous year's level this is a growth of 18%.