After the defeat of the September campaign, some 33,000 Polish soldiers were placed in internment camps in Hungary. They were cared for by various institutions, including the Red Cross. Formally, health care for the Poles rested with Hungarian military and district doctors, but in practice - with the consent of the authorities - it was handled by Polish doctors, only under the general supervision of Hungarian medics. In part, this was due to language barriers that made it difficult for Poles to use the Hungarian system of care.

In September 1939, according to a circular from the Ministry of the Interior, military and civilian refugees were entitled to free medical care. On 3 November 1939, the Polish Doctors' Section was established, functioning officially within the structure of the Hungarian Red Cross, but linked to the Polish Red Cross in Budapest. Its activities were subsidised by the Civic Committee. As well as coordinating the work of doctors, the section was also responsible for the work of some 90 Polish nurses. The organisation brought together 41 civilian and 114 military doctors, and its headquarters and the Central Polish Clinic were located in Budapest. Its functioning was possible thanks to Klara Andrássy, who donated an entire floor of her palace on the Danube at Fő utca 11/13 for the needs of the Polish medical organisations and the Red Cross.

On the Polish side, the supervision and organisation was led by the doctor of medicine, Brigadier General Jan Strzedniski-Kołłątaj (1883-1944). The exact circumstances of the general's death are not clear; according to one account, after Nazi troops entered Budapest on 19 March 1944, he went to his office to burn documents related to his underground activities, including helping to hide Jews. While the documentation was being destroyed, Gestapo men entered the building and shot the general first, before also shooting other Poles - doctors, nurses and patients. He was buried in the Kobenya cemetery, now in Budapest, in the Polish quarters. For his activities and heroic attitude, he was awarded, among other things, the title of Righteous Among the Nations and the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari.

Thanks to the work of Polish doctors and the support of the Hungarian side, each camp had a clinic with an infirmary and a pharmacy. Free dental care was also provided at the expense of the Polish Civic Committee, and the sanitary condition of the camps was monitored. To meet the needs of the military, a 140-bed military hospital was opened in Győr in 1940, run by Dr Stefan Sobieniecki. In the adjacent cemetery, 45 Polish soldiers who died of wounds sustained in combat against the Germans in Poland in 1939 and who were treated at this facility were buried.

The health care system was complemented by the neurological ward in Szentes, the tuberculosis ward in Eger and the sanatoriums in Letkés and Ipolyszalka, as well as the Health House which was a tuberculosis sanatorium in Mátraháza (sometimes the name of the neighbouring village Matrafüred is given) and the old people's home in Keszthely.

Care for mothers and children was provided by the Hungarian Red Cross and the International Child Protection Organisation. According to statistics, 212 children were born among the refugees between 1939 and 1945, while the number of deaths amounted to 300. Special facilities in Kadarkut, Dunamocs and Kesthely were operated to meet the needs of mothers with children.

We can learn about the everyday functioning of the infirmary from the "One-Day Report of the Begenc Major Camp" of 11 November 1941. We will read there that "the infirmary has one lavatory (the old meaning of the word - a separate room - BG), where sick soldiers are examined, and at the same time the junior doctor's flat and the camp first-aid kit are located. The infirmary, on the other hand, initially consisted of two lavatories with single bunks and mattresses. In the first half of July 1921, the infirmary, located in a renovated building, was put into use. It has a wooden floor, adequate lighting thanks to new windows, and houses 16 iron beds with mattresses and sheets and the necessary equipment. An average of 250 soldiers report to the infirmary".

The sites of some of the institutions are commemorated with plaques - they are in Budapest, where the Central Polish Clinic was, in Győr, where there was a Polish hospital, and in Keszthely where there was an old people's home.