Doctors under the microscope. The number of cases involving prescription and dismissal machines is growing
According to “GW” information, the practice begins with hacker attacks. Jakub Kosikowski, spokesman for the Supreme Medical Chamber, explains that the target of cybercriminals is the ZUS certificate, which allows doctors to issue documents online. Kosikowski notes that hackers use fake SMS messages, which direct them to websites that look confusingly like the mObywatel application. This is how data is stolen. “These are still isolated situations that usually end with blocking the certificate and obtaining a new one,” says the NIL spokesman. However, he adds, so far it has not been possible to hold the companies responsible for this practice accountable.
Some doctors consciously share their ZUS certificates, seeing it as an easy way to earn money. In such cases, bots operating in “receptomats” and “zzwoleniamatach” take control over the document issuance process. Automatic systems can generate hundreds or even thousands of prescriptions and sick notes in one day. Kosikowski emphasizes that the operation of these bots is limited to asking routine questions in the chat, after which documents are issued without an actual medical consultation.
The problem, as noted by the NIL spokesman, has been growing since around 2022, and the lack of appropriate legal regulations allows the practice to develop at full speed.
“It's 2025 and nothing has changed so far,” says Kosikowski, pointing to the proliferation of online companies offering this type of services. NIL has been appealing to the government for a long time to introduce regulations that would put an end to the activities of “prescription machines” and “exemption machines”. However, as Kosikowski notes, responses from decision-makers suggest that telemedicine, although controversial, is popular among the public and relieves the burden on the National Health Fund.
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Meanwhile, situations in which doctors find out about mass issuance of documents in their name still occur. Information about such cases usually reaches them through ZUS, the Supreme Medical Court or from the patients themselves. In the absence of effective legal regulations, this problem remains unsolved, raising increasing concerns in the medical community.
