ECJ ruling may force NFZ to pay for treatment abroad

This follows a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which was dealing with the case of British woman Yvonne Watts who in excruciating pain and who waited for over a year for an operation before finally deciding to go to France to have it. After the operation she demanded that the British state foot the bill and the European Court of Justice admitted that she was right. Poland also has a problem with long hospital queues and the reason for that is lack of money. The ruling implies that Poles may now go to other EU member state countries for treatment, however, as treatment abroad is more expensive than in Poland, if Poles take advantage of this ruling the government will find itself under great pressure to solve the most pressing problems in the Polish health service. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) H.D.