Hospitals scale up pathology labs for cancer care
A new wave of tenders for pathology equipment under the National Oncology Strategy is reshaping cancer diagnostics and laying ground for digital tools.
A new wave of tenders for pathology equipment under the National Oncology Strategy is reshaping cancer diagnostics and laying ground for digital tools.
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A teaching hospital in Łódź has gone to market for new pathology equipment under Poland’s National Oncology Strategy, adding to a growing wave of tenders that are reshaping cancer diagnostics and laying foundations for more digital workflows.
Samodzielny Publiczny Zakład Opieki Zdrowotnej Centralny Szpital Kliniczny Uniwersytetu Medycznego w Łodzi has published a contract notice on 14th November 2025 for the equipment delivery for pathological diagnostics. The notice states that the hospital requires delivery of equipment for pathological diagnostics as part of the National Oncology Strategy, with detailed specifications set out in the Terms of Reference.
The buyer, a central clinical hospital of the Medical University in Łódź, is focusing this investment on the pathology services that underpin cancer diagnosis, staging and treatment planning. By framing the procurement within the National Oncology Strategy, it aligns with a wider national push to strengthen oncology pathways through better diagnostics.
The Łódź notice is one of a series of pathology tenders linked to the National Oncology Strategy that have appeared since October 2025. Provincial and regional hospitals, as well as other university centres, are moving at similar pace to renew their pathomorphology and histopathology laboratories.
On 21st October 2025, Samodzielny Publiczny Wojewódzki Szpital Zespolony w Szczecinie launched a contract for the delivery, installation and commissioning of equipment for pathomorphological diagnostics, funded by a Ministry of Health grant under the National Oncology Strategy. The scope goes beyond simple delivery to include on-site installation and commissioning.
Less than a month later, on 12th November 2025, Samodzielny Publiczny Zakład Opieki Zdrowotnej Wojewódzki Szpital Specjalistyczny Nr 3 w Rybniku published a notice for the purchase of pathology laboratory equipment, divided into eight packages to support its pathology laboratory under the same strategy. Splitting the order into packages creates space for specialist suppliers to bid for parts of the requirement.
In the university sector, Uniwersyteckie Centrum Kliniczne Warszawskiego Uniwersytetu Medycznego went to market on 27th October 2025 for the delivery of pathological diagnosis equipment in five parts under the National Oncology Strategy. The hospital lists a tissue processor, an embedding machine, microtomes, printers and a scanner, signalling a comprehensive refresh of its pathology workflow.
A similar configuration appears in the Mazowiecki Szpital Wojewódzki im. św. Jana Pawła II w Siedlcach notice of 21st October 2025, which seeks pathological diagnostics equipment, including a tissue processor, embedding station, stainer and coverslipper, microtome, printer and scanner, again under the National Oncology Strategy.
At Regionalny Szpital Specjalistyczny im. dr Władysława Biegańskiego, a contract published on 5th November 2025 for the supply of pathological diagnostic equipment sets out a broad list: tissue processors, an embedding machine, staining machines, coverslippers, microtomes, cassette printers and slide printers, as part of a programme under the Ministry of Health.
Zagłębiowskie Centrum Onkologii Szpital Specjalistyczny im. Sz. Starkiewicza w Dąbrowie Górniczej focuses on similar processes in its 27th October 2025 notice for pathological diagnostics equipment, highlighting devices for staining, processing and embedding tissue, and building in staff training and warranty requirements.
Taken together, these tenders point to a standardised core of instruments that many Polish hospitals are now procuring for cancer pathology laboratories, including:
The Łódź contract does not list specific devices in the notice itself, directing bidders instead to the Terms of Reference. Still, it clearly belongs to this same pattern of pathology-focused investment under the National Oncology Strategy.
Digital tools appear in a number of these oncology-linked procurements. Several hospitals couple traditional pathology instruments with scanners, printers and, in at least one case, server infrastructure.
In the tender of 11th November 2025 from Szpital Wojewódzki im. dr. Ludwika Rydygiera w Suwałkach, the hospital seeks histopathology laboratory equipment that includes a scanner, a laser printer and a thermal transfer printer as part of the National Oncology Strategy. The combination points to a lab built around both physical slides and high-volume digital documentation.
Wojewódzkie Wielospecjalistyczne Centrum Onkologii i Traumatologii im. M. Kopernika w Łodzi, another oncology centre in the same city, published a notice on 7th November 2025 for the supply of a dyeing machine, a cover machine and a scanner. Although the full specification sits in the attachments, the scanner again indicates a move to digitise at least part of the pathology workflow.
Digital infrastructure is most explicit in the 5th November 2025 notice from Uniwersytecki Szpital Dziecięcy w Krakowie. The hospital is procuring genetic diagnostic equipment – a capillary electrophoresis system, an automatic nucleic acid isolation system, a pipetting station – together with server infrastructure, all within the National Oncology Strategy. This links oncology directly to molecular diagnostics and data handling capacity.
At Katowickie Centrum Onkologii, the 31st October 2025 tender for devices and medical equipment for the Department of Pathomorphology allows offers across multiple packages, including processors, embedding stations and scanners. Here too, scanners sit alongside core tissue-processing equipment.
In practical terms, these scanners and server systems are the hardware foundation for digital pathology, creating high-resolution images of tissue samples that can be stored, shared and, over time, analysed with computer-assisted tools. The notices themselves stay focused on equipment delivery, standards and service obligations, but the investment opens the door to more data-driven cancer diagnostics.
Many of the oncology-linked equipment tenders follow a similar design, using packages and partial offers to balance scale with competition.
The Wojewódzki Szpital Specjalistyczny im. Najświętszej Maryi Panny in Częstochowa, for example, is buying pathomorphology equipment as part of the National Oncology Strategy, and explicitly allows partial offers across different packages. That creates entry points for niche manufacturers that may specialise in one category of device.
The Wojewódzki Szpital Zespolony im. dr. Romana Ostrzyckiego w Koninie takes a similar approach in its 15th October 2025 tender for pathological diagnostics equipment, offering partial bids across multiple packages and noting that the purchase is pending funding from a health ministry competition. That caveat underlines how closely these investments are tied to central grant mechanisms.
Rybnik’s eight-package pathology order and Katowice’s multi-package pathomorphology tender reinforce the pattern of hospitals structuring oncology equipment procurements into modular lots, rather than single turnkey contracts.
Compliance and quality requirements are prominent. Międzyleski Szpital Specjalistyczny w Warszawie, in its 25th November 2025 notice for pathological diagnostics equipment, stresses that all devices must comply with Polish and European standards and sets detailed expectations for quality, documentation and delivery. Similar language on adherence to medical regulations appears in the Dąbrowa Górnicza pathology tender.
Environmental considerations surface in other medical equipment projects. The cardiology-focused tender from Samodzielny Publiczny Zespół Zakładów Opieki Zdrowotnej w Staszowie, published on 20th November 2025, and the wider equipment procurement for Wojewódzki Szpital Zespolony w Kielcach on 24th November 2025 both call out compliance with environmental standards alongside technical specifications. Training and warranty services are also built into several deals, from the oncology centre in Dąbrowa Górnicza to the Provincial Hospital in Tarnobrzeg, whose October 2025 tender couples equipment delivery with installation, training and warranty obligations.
Financing structures vary, but ministry involvement is a recurring thread. The Szczecin pathomorphology project is funded through a dedicated Ministry of Health grant, while the Konin procurement is contingent on a ministry competition. At Szpital Specjalistyczny im. Ludwika Rydygiera w Krakowie, a broader 16-package medical equipment tender is explicitly co-financed by the Ministry of Health, underscoring the central role of national funding even where the purchases are not labelled as part of the oncology strategy.
In parallel, oncology centres are upgrading diagnostic and surgical equipment beyond pathology. Świętokrzyskie Centrum Onkologii w Kielcach, for instance, published a June 2025 notice for the purchase of medical equipment that includes a fusion biopsy kit, a urodynamic testing kit for its urology clinic and electrosurgical diathermy for the gynaecology clinic. Hospitals in Łuków, Poznań, Tarnobrzeg and Słupsk are running similar multi-package procurements for imaging, surgical and ward equipment, suggesting that pathology investment is one strand in a broader modernisation of hospital technology.
Across these notices, more than a dozen provincial, regional and university hospitals are either buying or planning to buy pathology and oncology-related equipment under or alongside the National Oncology Strategy. For suppliers, the Łódź pathology contract is another marker that demand for laboratory hardware and related services is set to remain active while ministry grants and competitions are in play. For the health system, the next question is how quickly hospitals can translate this equipment into shorter diagnostic pathways and more consistent cancer reporting.
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