da Vinci Robots in Polish Hospitals: How Many There Are and How They Work

The da Vinci surgical robot is a telemanipulation system that lets a surgeon operate through small incisions, steering the robot's arms from a console with a three-dimensional view of the surgical field. In Poland the number of facilities offering procedures with it has been growing since 2010, and the pace has picked up noticeably in recent years.

From one robot to dozens of systems

The first da Vinci system in Poland started work in December 2010 at the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Wrocław (Alert Medyczny). According to January 2024 data, da Vinci operations were performed at 43 medical centers in Poland and 108 surgeons nationwide held Intuitive Surgical certifications; there was one robot per about 897,000 residents, against 246,000 in Europe and 65,000 in the US (OSOZ).

Two years later, at the end of 2025, there were according to the distributor Synektik 83 da Vinci systems in operation in Poland, 27 of them installed in 2025 alone; Polish hospitals perform on average about 76 procedures per robot per quarter (Rynek Zdrowia). Systems from other makers are also appearing — the British Versius, Medtronic's Hugo and the Chinese Edge Medical — but we found no reliable, uniform count of them, so we give none. Figures differ between sources because reports count different platforms and different dates, and NFZ data is published with a delay. These are distributor figures, not an independent register.

Where the robots are concentrated

The systems are not evenly distributed; they cluster in the largest cancer and university centers. According to January 2024 data, Warsaw had the most robots (9), followed by Poznań (4) and Katowice (3) (OSOZ). Systems were also operating in Wrocław, Kraków, Gdańsk, Łódź and Białystok, among other places.

The symbol of this expansion is the Rydygier Hospital, where according to Tygodnik Medyczny the thousandth robotic operation was performed in mid-July 2026. The program began on 16 October 2023 on the urology ward, and today one system serves four specialties (urology, gynecology, general surgery and otolaryngology) — the hospital is considering buying a second robot. It is a sign that the robot has stopped being a niche tool for one ward.

Which procedures are performed most often

By far the largest share of procedures is in urology, where according to Alert Medyczny the da Vinci system handles more than 50 types of operations, including radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate), radical cystectomy (bladder), nephrectomy (kidney) and ureteral procedures. In 2023 two thirds of the roughly 10,100 robot-assisted procedures performed in Polish hospitals were prostatectomies (Wprost). According to NFZ, of about 10,850 reimbursed robotic cancer operations in 2024, about 8,400 concerned prostate cancer (Bankier.pl).

The second-largest segment is general surgery (more than 80 procedures in the repertoire, mainly colorectal resection, gastrectomy and pancreatic resection; in 2024 NFZ funded about 1,300 robotic colorectal cancer operations), and the third is gynecologic oncology (more than 20 procedures, including hysterectomy, myomectomy and endometrial cancer surgery; in 2024 about 900 reimbursed uterine cancer operations). The system is also used in thoracic surgery, cardiac surgery and otolaryngology, though on a smaller scale.

Who pays for the operation

A single da Vinci-assisted operation in Poland reportedly costs about PLN 30,000 (≈ EUR 6,860 at NBP rate 4.3716 of 20 October 2026) privately, and in complex cases media quote up to PLN 60,000 (≈ EUR 13,720). According to Wprost the NFZ tariff for robotic prostatectomy is almost PLN 31,000 (≈ EUR 7,090). NFZ funds robot-assisted operations as separately priced services — since 1 April 2022 for prostate cancer (answer to a parliamentary interpellation), and since 1 August 2023 also for colorectal and uterine cancer (Bankier.pl) — which means a patient qualified in a public hospital pays nothing directly. According to NFZ data, in 2024 the fund spent a total of PLN 300 million (≈ EUR 68.62 million) on about 10,850 robotic cancer operations (prostate cancer: 8,400 operations, PLN 233 million (≈ EUR 53.3 million); colorectal cancer: 1,300, PLN 41 million (≈ EUR 9.38 million); uterine cancer: 900, PLN 25 million (≈ EUR 5.72 million)). We found no confirmation in primary sources of earlier figures circulating in the media for spending in 2022–2023, so we do not give them.

Competition is growing, but da Vinci still dominates

Despite the arrival of competing systems, namely the British Versius, Medtronic's American Hugo and the Chinese Edge Medical (MP1000), da Vinci keeps its dominant position on the Polish market in both installed systems and operations performed. Its advantage rests mainly on the longest clinical track record, the largest number of trained surgeons and the widest range of approved indications. Growing competition may bring down deployment costs for hospitals in the coming years, which would indirectly widen access to robotic procedures beyond today's leading centers.