IVF and Egg Donation in Poland

IVF in Poland - basic information

€ 4,000-6,000 Egg donation cost range in Poland

Egg donation cycles per year¹
361
Average egg donation success rates²
48.9%
Egg donation
Anonymous
Donor availability
Caucasian

IVF and Egg Donation in Poland - availability and limits
Maximum patient age	No limit not specified by legislation, decided by each clinic individually
IVF treatments for single women	Not allowed
IVF treatments for female same sex couples	Not allowed
Gender selection	Allowed only if there are medical reasons Not allowed for family balancing reasons
Maximum number of eggs to fertilise	6 unless the patient is over 35 years old or there are other medical indications
Maximum number of embryos to transfer IVF with donor eggs	No limit specified not specified by legislation, decided by each clinic individually
Maximum number of embryos to transfer IVF with own eggs	No limit specified not specified by legislation, decided by each clinic individually
Egg donation - anonymity	Anonymous
Egg donor availability	Medium
Egg donor age	18-35
Maximum number of children born from the same egg donor	10
Sperm donor - maximum age	No limits
Maximum number of children born from the same sperm donor	10
IVF clinics in Poland	Check IVF clinics in Poland >>>

Sources: Legislation and reimbursement of ART and IUI treatments in Europe >>> | IVF Aroad Patients Guide, WhereIVF.com >>>

Why IVF in Poland?

Poland wasn’t always recognised for its ability to offer high quality fertility treatments until recently. Due to its political and social climate, infertility was considered a taboo topic and actual medical help for international fertility patients was hard to find. This was despite the fact that the first in vitro fertilisation (IVF) was successfully performed there already in 1987. In fact, Poland passed its regulations regarding IVF treatments quite late – in 2015. The introduced legislation aimed to standardise the quality of health and medical protocols used throughout the country in order to establish a consistent standard of care.

Thanks to the quality assisted reproductive treatments and fairly low average cost of IVF, Poland has become one of the most attractive European IVF destinations.

Reasons to go to Poland for IVF or Egg Donation

Much lower IVF treatment costs (compared to the European average)
High quality of medical services (adhered to the international standards)
Comfortable treatment conditions
Competent medical staff that communicates in English
Convenient travel arrangements (two big low cost airlines reach all the biggest cities in Poland)
No age limit in regards to female patients
Egg/sperm/embryo donation allowed

IVF clinics in Poland

When it comes to the standard of IVF treatment in Poland, it doesn’t differ much from the top European fertility destinations. Polish private IVF clinics offer modern facilities as well as competent and professional medical staff. The efficacy of treatment and its available options do not lag behind the European neighbours. The Polish cities most willingly chosen by IVF patients are Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan and Katowice.

Clinics, or “infertility treatment centres”, require accreditation from the Minister of Health and must meet certain requirements. An up-to-date registry of accredited assisted reproduction units and embryo banks in Poland is available online..

Clinics report their results to the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), which publishes yearly aggregate reports describing the state of fertility treatments in Europe.

Fertility treatments in Poland

Probably one of the most advantageous aspects of IVF treatment in Poland is the lack of legal age limit for female patients and their partners. According to standing legislation, all fertility treatment procedures are only available to infertile, heterosexual couples. Single women and same-sex couples are not allowed to undergo IVF in Poland. In general, IVF is only available to patients who can prove they attempted other methods of treatment for a period of at least twelve months.

Sperm, egg, and embryo donation are all allowed; strict anonymity is enforced by law, although clinics are required to store the personal, identifying data of both the donor and the recipient as part of their case documentation.

Both PGT-A and PGD testing are available to patients, although the latter requires a valid medical reason. Sex selection as a result of embryo testing is strictly prohibited except in cases where there is a possibility of a child being affected by a disorder carried by the sex chromosomes. Only six eggs can be fertilised at one time, unless the patient has had two failed assisted reproduction treatments in the past.

Surplus eggs and embryos can be given up for anonymous donation. At the same time selling or destroying embryos with development, potential is banned under penalty of imprisonment.

IVF for lesbian couples in Poland

IVF for same-sex female couples is not allowed in Poland.

Egg donation in Poland

When you think of undergoing anonymous IVF egg donation, Poland is a good option. Sperm and embryo donations are anonymous here as well. Potential donors must register with a National Register of Donors which is controlled by Polish Ministry of Health.

According to ESHRE data, egg donation treatments aren’t as popular in Poland as they are in other European countries. Donor availability remains an issue – while almost 14,000 own egg treatments took place in the country in 2014, only 756 egg donation cycles were performed.

Egg donor information available in Poland

Clinics are required to keep the anonymity between the patient and the donor intact. Matching is done on the basis of “phenotype matching” (characteristics such as skin and hair colour, height, weight, eye colour), race, ethnicity and blood type.

Donors are required to be entered into a national registry. Children born through donation can gain access to the registry and receive some non-identifying information about the donor: their year and city of birth, their physical description, and the results of their qualifying examinations.

Remember that finding donors in Poland is still rather difficult, partly due to complicated attitudes towards IVF and related treatments. As such, the waiting time for a donor might be up to 12 months.

Egg donor qualifications

Polish law specifies certain medical qualifications a potential donor needs to meet before they are allowed to donate. Donors are required to test negative for some serious infectious diseases.

Donor qualification tests required by law:

Anti–HIV–1 and HIV–2
HbsAg
Anti–HBc
Anti–HCV–AB
Chlamydia
VDRL
Anti–RHD antibody
CMV
Malaria
Tripanosomosis

Candidates for egg and sperm donors have to undergo psychological screening in fertility clinics, too.

Each donor can only have 10 genetic offsprings; once the 10th child is born, the donor’s details are struck from the donor registry.

Embryo donation in Poland

Couples who have concluded their fertility treatments, but still have extra embryos can store them for up to 20 years or give them up for adoption. After twenty years the embryos are automatically given up for adoption and the process does not require the patients’ consent. Destroying viable embryos is illegal and can be punished by up to five years in prison.

IVF cost in Poland

Poland is by far one of the cheapest destination for fertility treatments in Europe. The average cost of egg donation in Poland is €4,000 – €6,000 while the prices of single IVF cycle with own eggs in Poland range from €2,200 to €5,200.

IVF costs abroad – popular countries
Country / IVF treatment type	Egg donation costs	IVF own eggs costs
Spain	€5,900 – €11,000	€4,100 – €7,100
Czech Republic	€4,500 – €8,000	€2,700 – €5,700
Greece	€5,000 – €8,000	€3,200 – €6,200
North Cyprus	€4,500 – €6,000	€2,700 – €5,700
Ukraine	€4,000 – €7,000	€2,200 – €5,200
Russia	€3,800 – €7,000	€2,000 – €5,000
Portugal	€6,000 – €8,000	€3,200 – €6,200
Poland	€4,000 – €6,000	€2,200 – €5,200
Latvia	€5,000 – €8,000	€3,200 – €6,200
UK	€10,000 – €14,000	€6,000 – €10,000

Sources: IVF Aroad Patients Guide, WhereIVF.com >>> | Patients Enquiries Reports 2013-2019, Fertility Clinics Abroad Ltd., Edinburgh, August 2019 | Patients Enquiries Report’s 2013-2019, IVF Media Ltd., Dublin, August 2019

Poland is by far one of the cheapest destination for fertility treatments in Europe. It needs to be noted however that some clinics aren’t as transparent as they should be about additional fees accumulated during treatments; always be sure to ask your clinic of choice about whether these costs are included in their price quote:

the donor’s fee, her medication and screening (if you’re interested in egg donation)
egg retrieval
sperm collection and sperm preparation
ICSI
IVF add-ons (techniques in IVF Lab)
transfer of blastocysts
vitrification (freezing) and storage of embryos/blastocysts
frozen embryo transfer

IVF success rates in Poland

As the field of assisted reproductive technologies in Poland was not regulated by law until 2015, there are not many reliable domestic sources of statistics showing the number of performed procedures and pregnancies.

ESHRE is the European authority concerned with collecting and publishing data on fertility treatments in member countries; their reports, however, are published with a long delay.

Egg Donation Success Rates* per woman age in Europe – popular countries
Country / Woman age	<34	35-39	≥40
Spain	53.8	57.4	53.7
Czech Republic	44.7	41.0	40.2
Greece	59.6	58.9	54.3
North Cyprus	No data / not collected by ESHRE
Ukraine	64.3	66.3	61.9
Russia	46.7	45.5	42.8
Portugal	43.7	46.4	49.2
Poland	45.3	44.2	40.3
Latvia	100.0*	16.7*	7.7*
UK	41.9	44.0	41.8

*Pregnancy rates per embryo transfer. Source: ART in Europe, 2016: results generated from European registries by ESHRE >>> | *Only 101 ED cycles were reported for Latvia – not enough data.

Your individual chances for a successful IVF treatment in Poland Remember that average success rates shouldn’t be the primary deciding factor for your choice of clinic. Each patient is different – they have place different emphasis and importance on infertility diagnoses and medical histories. As such, the prognoses for each patient can vary greatly and usually are different from the presented average success rates of each clinic. If you want clarification about a clinic’s success rates, call the clinic before scheduling an appointment – describe your medical history in detail, including your age, weight, height, the infertility diagnosis, the number of failed cycles, performed tests and procedures etc. and ask for your individual success prognosis.

IVF laws and clinics accreditation in Poland

The fundamentals of treating infertility was passed in 2015. It is called the Act of 25 June 2015 (in force since 1 November 2015). It regulates the use of reproductive cells and embryos as well as ruling on patient eligibility criteria and the assisted reproductive techniques, such as insemination and in vitro fertilisation.

Clinics are required to acquire accreditation from the Minister of Healthcare. They are compelled to submit the results of all treatments performed to the Ministry for statistical purposes; those statistics aren’t available to the public. Many, although not all, clinics also submit their data to ESHRE – they publish annual reports, although with a large delay. Clinics are also subjected to annual inspections in order to ensure proper standards of care are upheld.

IVF in Poland – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How much does IVF treatment cost in Poland?

Poland is one of the cheapest IVF destinations in Europe (even with added costs of travel/accommodation and extra procedures). The average egg donation cost in Poland is €4,000 – €6,000 while the prices of single IVF cycle with own eggs range from €2,200 to €5,200.

What kind of IVF treatment is legally allowed in Poland?

In Poland, only married or cohabiting opposite–sex couples are allowed to receive IVF treatment (on the condition that they have a documented history of infertility treatment). There is no legal age limit for female patients and their partners. Egg/sperm/embryo donation is anonymous and the maximum number of eggs for fertilisation is six. Both PGT–A and PGD are available and sex selection is allowed only for medical reasons.

What are IVF success rates in Poland?

According to the ESHRE 2014 report (published in 2018), IVF success rates in Poland were less effective than the ones in the most popular IVF destinations – probably because of a still relatively small number of egg donation cycles performed in this country. The overall birth rates for IVF with own eggs were 34.6% (for patients under 35 years old), 28.7% (for patients aged 35-39) and 14.2% (for patients over 40). The birth rate for IVF treatment with donor eggs was 46.2% for all age groups.

What are the most frequently chosen cities for IVF treatment in Poland?

When it comes to the most popular locations among fertility tourists in Poland, these are the country’s biggest cities. When foreign patients travel to Poland for IVF or IVF with donor eggs, they prefer to choose Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan or Katowice.

What major laws are regulating IVF treatment in Poland?

The most important IVF law in Poland is the Act of 25 June 2015 (in force since 1 November 2015). It regulates the issues concerning the treatment of infertility and the functioning of assisted reproduction facilities.

Where can I find the information on IVF clinics in Poland?

IVF clinics in Poland need the accreditation from the Polish Minister of Health in order to operate legally. The data on accredited assisted reproduction units and embryo banks in Poland can be found in the Register of ART Units and Germ Cells and Embryo Banks Registry, which is available on the following website: http://roib.rejestrymedyczne.csioz.gov.pl/

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Resources used in this article

Legislation and reimbursement of ART and IUI treatments in Europe,
https://www.eshre.eu/Data-collection-and-research/Consortia/EIM/Legislation-for-ART-and-IUI-treatments
Patients Enquiries Reports 2013-2019, Fertility Clinics Abroad Ltd., Edinburgh, August 2019.
Patients Enquiries Report’s 2013-2019, IVF Media Ltd., Dublin, August 2019.
ART in Europe, 2016: results generated from European registries by ESHRE
https://academic.oup.com/hropen/article/2020/3/hoaa032/5879305
Registry of accredited assisted reproduction units and embryo banks in Poland
https://roib.ezdrowie.gov.pl/

Aleksander Wiecki

Aleksander is a advocate of transparency and truth about IVF treatment and patients’ experience manager. With strong expertise and background in the IVF (infertility) industry including IVF clinics and genetic laboratories Aleksander strongly believes that there is a gap between IVF patients and clinics. This is a gap where patients may fall for the most common IVF treatment traps during their infertility journey. That’s why patients need help and support which they don’t necessary get from IVF clinics. The support which comes from an objective, trustworthy and reliable source. Aleksander is a regular guest at ESHRE annual meetings, the Fertility Show in London, the Fertility Forum, the IMTJ - Medical Travel Summit and Fertility Exhibitions and conferences around the world.