Poland currently hosts one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas. The country has also become a key hub for migrants travelling from Ukraine to other regions of Europe. This has created opportunities for the development of specific niches in the service market, addressing the immediate needs of Ukrainians in Poland: from legal support to education and healthcare.
Medical services remain among the most in-demand for Ukrainians in Poland. Although this sector is one of the most complex and heavily regulated for business, certain projects have managed to achieve significant success. Among them is the well-known Warsaw-based network of private medical centres, AstraMED.
Vitaliy Khimchuk, a member of ASTRAMED’s management board, spoke to UA.News about the most important aspects of operating in the Polish medical services market, patient trust, the popularity of check-ups, and a new culture of health.
AstraMED: a clinic with Ukrainian roots
The network of medical centres, AstraMED, brings together over 80 highly qualified specialists across more than 30 medical fields. It provides medical services for children and adults in Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish. The network’s primary audience is Ukrainian families.
“Medicine is a specific sphere where it is not enough just to provide high-quality services. When we visit a doctor, language and communication are especially important. Even if one knows the language, it is difficult to describe symptoms in detail or understand certain terms during a medical consultation. In a stressful situation, it is hard for a patient to understand what is being explained to them.
Regardless of the diagnosis, the patient already feels calmer knowing that a qualified doctor is responsible for their condition. This requires effective communication, a shared language, and a clear understanding of every word spoken,” explains Vitaliy Khimchuk.
According to him, the clinic’s doctors integrate actively and are able to communicate confidently with patients in Polish. This is why more and more Polish patients are turning to AstraMED.
High ratings and respect for patients
In addition to consultations in their native language, patients choose AstraMED for many reasons: appointments by reservation without queues, experienced specialists across various fields, ultrasounds and tests in one location, online consultations, convenient locations across Warsaw, a comfortable atmosphere, and care for every patient.
“In addition to communication, we focus on quality. We have strong service: we carefully consider every question from our clients, ensure feedback, and even call after visits to make sure everything went well. Three of our branches have consumer ratings of 5.0, and three have 4.9. The fact that our very first branch, which has been operating since 2022, has 2,000 reviews and a rating of 4.9 is a truly high assessment. Considering that medicine is a service sector where people come with sensitive issues,” notes Vitaliy Khimchuk.
Another advantage of AstraMED is a lower cost for longer doctor appointments. Typically, a visit to a Polish doctor lasts only 15 minutes, including all procedures: documentation and patient examination.
“A visit to a Polish doctor lasting 15 minutes costs 400 zlotys, which is 100 euros. In our clinic, consultations last from half an hour to an hour, depending on the specialty, giving patients the opportunity to speak calmly with the doctor and ask all their questions. For now, we do not want to shorten appointment times — in my opinion, it shows disrespect to people and does not ensure quality service,” says Vitaliy Khimchuk.
Moreover, appointments are available during the day without long queues. Many Ukrainians living in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Baltic countries also come to the clinic. For them, the quality, cost, and clarity of medical examinations at AstraMED are more attractive than in the countries where they reside. Patients also include those temporarily in Poland who are planning further migration to Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries.
Opening medical centres
Over nearly four years of development, the AstraMED network has opened six medical centres in various districts of Warsaw, with a seventh planned.
“The first centre opened in April 2022. The project itself was initiated long before the full-scale war began, gradually moving towards implementation.
From that point, our development in Warsaw began. Initially, we opened in the Wola district on the left bank of the Vistula. The second location was in the Targówek district on the right bank, and over time we expanded geographically, selecting new locations so that it would be convenient for patients to reach us,” explains the network’s director.
According to him, the main challenge in opening a clinic was not so much the availability of start-up capital, but the highly regulated nature of the local medical services market.
“The cost of opening a clinic depends on many factors: space, equipment, functionality, etc., and can vary from 200,000 to 2 million euros. However, the key problem is not investment, but the complexity of working on the Polish market. Simply knowing the language is not enough to succeed here.
We achieved this thanks to several factors. The project CEO is a Polish specialist with experience, who took responsibility for communication with the Ministry of Health and other institutions. Now processes are simplified and systematised thanks to accumulated experience and the presence of a legal team handling documentation,” notes Vitaliy Khimchuk.
Specialisation of centres and specialists
“At first, all our centres were universal. There was a family doctor and the possibility to do all necessary tests. Later, we decided to separate them by specialisation. Primarily, we separated the gynaecology and pregnancy departments. We considered patients’ needs: pregnant women generally do not want to be in the same room with sick patients, for example, children brought to a paediatrician. Therefore, we created a separate, premium-level, calm environment to reduce the risk of illness for expectant mothers and ensure a comfortable and beautiful atmosphere,” explains the head of the AstraMED network.
Currently, AstraMED has a wide range of specialists: gynaecologist, mammologist-oncologist, paediatrician, therapist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, dietitian, neurologist, urologist, ENT specialist (laryngologist), surgeon, proctologist, dermatologist, trichologist, psychologist, sexologist, psychiatrist, child psychiatrist, speech therapist, ophthalmologist, ultrasound diagnostician, orthopaedist, rehabilitation specialist, rheumatologist, dentist, implantologist, prosthetist, and orthodontist. The clinic has two dental offices equipped with modern dental equipment.
Key Areas: gynaecology and psychology
“One of the main directions of our activity is gynaecology and pregnancy observation. For this, we opened two specialised departments. We constantly improve this area, adding services such as mammologist and endocrinologist consultations. Another important and strong area of our work is psychological support,” clarifies Vitaliy Khimchuk.
AstraMED employs highly qualified psychologists authorised to practice professionally under Polish law. According to Khimchuk, this is one of the key advantages compared to individuals who provide services at home and call themselves psychologists, but whose professional status cannot be verified. All clinic specialists have confirmed their qualifications and completed education in Polish higher education institutions.
“We conduct psychological diagnostics for children and adolescents. Our doctors provide electronic prescriptions, medical recommendations, sick leave for child care, and handle various medical documentation, including patient medical histories. We also provide different reports for court cases or disability determination. Our psychiatrists are authorised to prescribe antidepressants. Overall, this area is very popular in Poland.
Just like in Ukraine, the psychological state of society, especially young people and children, is not very good. Many children have attention and concentration problems. And what can we say about people who have experienced war and migration? There are many cases where someone has a family member at the front, someone has died, there is family misunderstanding, divorce, or other social problems. Naturally, they need help, including psychological.
Our psychiatrists also specialise in treating various addictions, including children’s gadget addiction and other related issues. Various diagnostic tests are carried out, for example, to detect attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorders,” says the head of AstraMED about this service area.
Selection and Professional Growth of Doctors
At AstraMED, there is a strong focus on forming a capable medical team. Considering that medicine requires a personalised approach, attention, and care for clients, staff are selected very carefully. Even if a doctor has high qualifications and experience, they are not accepted if they do not share the clinic’s values. An important aspect of high-quality service is ongoing support and training for doctors.
“At our base, we have launched courses which we fund ourselves. Although this is not profitable, we do it because we need highly qualified and confident specialists. We constantly improve their training and organise their participation in conferences in Poland,” says Vitaliy Khimchuk. “We actively help doctors adapt by providing necessary documentation and organising training in medical Polish. Without this, it is impossible to obtain a professional license here.
In addition, we have a dedicated department handling staff documentation. Our lawyers take care of all necessary paperwork and resolve matters in ministries and other authorities. We also pay competitive salaries according to Polish standards. All our business processes are conducted fully transparently and officially.”
Modern equipment as part of a long-term strategy
The AstraMED team focuses on quality of service and therefore works only with the best modern medical equipment. For example, ultrasounds are conducted using expert-class equipment — Samsung HS50 and GE Voluson E8 BT18 with the ViewPoint system, ensuring high diagnostic accuracy, detailed imaging, and reliable storage of results. Investment in effective and modern medical equipment is part of the company’s strategic vision for many years ahead.
“Most of our earnings are reinvested into scaling. It is fundamental for us that the equipment is reliable and up-to-date, at least for the next five years,” explains Vitaliy Khimchuk.
Development plans
In 2026, AstraMED plans to scale and open new centres in other cities with large Ukrainian communities.
“Although we are a Polish clinic, the Ukrainian diaspora remains important to us. We know how to work with this audience,” notes the network director. “We plan to expand to other cities in Poland, although it will be challenging. It will be new territory with new regulators. But nothing is impossible. We will overcome everything.”
New health culture and check-ups at AstraMED
AstraMED has a dedicated focus on tests and disease prevention. Full-body check-ups are performed for prevention and early detection of illnesses. This allows complications to be avoided, treatments and lifestyles to be adjusted in time. Such comprehensive medical examinations have become an integral part of a new health culture. The trend towards regular preventive care and responsible management of one’s health is actively supported at AstraMED.
“Our medical centre’s mission is to raise awareness and personal responsibility for health, preventive measures, and routine check-ups. The human body can be compared to a car that periodically needs to be checked at a service station. The same approach should be applied to human health: checking vision, performing an ultrasound, blood tests, assessing the body’s condition, and identifying inflammatory processes. One should not forget regular visits to specialists such as gynaecologists, cardiologists, and others. All of this forms an important part of a standard medical check-up,” notes Vitaliy Khimchuk.
The AstraMED director emphasises that a full medical examination should be done regularly, even if a person feels healthy. “There is no wrong answer,” says Khimchuk about the purpose of check-ups.
“What do you receive as a result? Your doctor carefully collects this data — examines you, weighs you, analyses the results, and provides conclusions with recommendations for improving health. If everything is normal, that is excellent news, because you receive official confirmation based on tests and examinations that your weight, heart condition, and other indicators are within normal ranges. Most importantly, you now know your health parameters in a healthy state, which can be used for comparison in the future.
If serious health problems are detected, which unfortunately happens, we always find ways to resolve them. There have been situations when patients required an ambulance during diagnostics, or urgent hospital visits — in this, a properly issued referral from a doctor is extremely helpful. Often, people are unaware of their health status; for example, they come for a check-up and discover heart problems or the onset of an illness that has not yet manifested.
If a problem is detected at an early stage, you have the opportunity to act in advance,” explains Vitaliy Khimchuk. “Our medical staff also provide general advice for maintaining health: proper sleep, balanced nutrition, and regular walks. All of this is done with care for the patient’s health, and such recommendations are becoming increasingly popular. Moreover, check-ups allow patients to evaluate the clinic and medical staff, and later become regular visitors.”
