Clinics line up for state IVF tender

Health Minister Bartosz Arlukowicz: photo - PAP/Jakub Kaminski

Last October, Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centre-right government pledged that it would launch state funding for the treatment without passing a new law. This was done by classifying IVF as an ordinary medical procedure such as a tonsillectomy.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Arlukowicz stated that he hopes to sign contracts with the most promising clinics by 1 July.

“We must be very careful to make sure that this procedure is carried out in a professional manner, to a very high European standard,” he said, as quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

He added that “no one really knows for certain how many clinics carry out IVF, and to what extent, because there is no register.”

The new system, which was initially timetabled to last three years, will allow the state to monitor the chosen clinics.

Campaigners for state reimbursement argued that up until now, the situation favoured the wealthy, who could afford to go private.

However, conservative attitudes towards the treatment created ruptures in Tusk's own party, while Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of chief opposition party Law and Justice, submitted two draft bills proposing an outright ban on the treatment last year.

Arlukowicz affirmed on Wednesday that in the long term, the government still aims to pass a law on IVF, and that draft legislation has been prepared.

When Prime Minister Tusk announced government's current programme last October, he claimed that it would reach 15,000 hopeful couples over the next three years. (nh)