Poland has committed to join a global network of regulators overseeing the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, becoming only the second European Union member state to do so as Europe’s new AI rules begin to bite and concerns grow about unpredictable behaviour by medical AI systems.
The agreement, announced on Thursday, is a memorandum of understanding between Poland’s Ministry of Health and HealthAI, the Geneva-based agency that runs the Global Regulatory Network (GRN). The document was drafted earlier this year at the AIMed 2026 conference in Kraków by Deputy Health Minister Tomasz Maciejewski and HealthAI’s chief executive, Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite, and it sets out a one-year cooperation framework to prepare Poland for full membership. There is no fixed timeline for accession, a HealthAI spokesperson said.
Portugal is the only other EU country in the network. Its other members include Britain, India, Brazil, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Zambia and Peru. Membership gives regulators access to AI healthcare tools that other regulators have already reviewed, and to a real-time warning system through which countries share reports of harmful incidents — a kind of early-warning radar for when a medical algorithm goes wrong somewhere in the world.
As part of the pathway, Poland takes a seat in the Leadership Group of HealthAI’s Community of Practice, where its officials can exchange experience with government and regulatory authorities from around 30 countries. HealthAI and the Polish health ministry will also jointly organise a meeting in Poland bringing together government, regulators, academics, clinicians and health-tech companies to build national agreement on how AI should be governed in the health system.
“Poland’s intention to join the GRN reflects a commitment to international collaboration and alignment, ensuring that innovation in AI translates into better health outcomes for Poland and for Europe,” Leite said.
The move comes as the European Union’s AI Act — the world’s first comprehensive AI law — moves into full effect, and as hospitals across Europe adopt AI tools for scanning images, triaging patients and drafting clinical notes faster than regulators can evaluate them one by one. The Polish government’s calculation is that a mid-sized country gains more influence, and safer technology, by pooling scrutiny with partners than by assessing every product alone. HealthAI, for its part, pointed to Poland’s growing health-tech sector and strong clinical research base as assets the country brings to the network.
The harder test will come later: whether shared warnings and shared reviews can keep pace with the speed at which AI products are reaching hospital wards.
Sources:
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/poland-become-second-eu-member-global-healthcare-ai-network-2026-10-22/
HealthAI / EIN Presswire — https://lifestyle.loopbiz.com/story/426118/polands-ministry-of-health-signs-agreement-with-healthai-advancing-responsible-ai-governance-in-health-across-europe/
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