The Irish Cancer Society has called on the Health Service Executive to stop referring cancer patients' debt to collection agencies.
The society said patients are being sent letters threatening legal action.
The organisation has published advice for patients on how best to deal with the charges.
CEO of the Irish Cancer Society Averil Power said that cancer patients are being pursued by debt collectors for as little as €80.
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Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said cancer patients without a medical card or private health insurance face inpatient charges of up to €800 a year for treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Where the charges are not paid within 47 days, HSE policy is that they may be pursued by a debt collection agency.
"These are patients who are very sick, who are already having to cope with the emotional and physical impact of cancer.
"To be pursued in such a frightening way by your public hospital system is incredibly unfair.
"In some cases they are patients who eventually, when their medical cards are processed, will be entitled to a medical card, but in the meantime they will have received all kinds of threatening letters, home visits, phone calls, from debt collection agencies. It is totally unnecessary, it causes unfair distress for patients and it should stop."
In a statement, the HSE said that charges are not just levied on cancer patients, but all patients who attend at public hospitals.
It said patients are, depending on their eligibility, subject to certain exemptions, liable to statutory charges.
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The charges are €100 for an Emergency Department attendance and €80 for an overnight stay. The latter charge is capped at €800 in any 12-month period, the statement reads.
It said these charges are separate from the private patient charges which are predominately collected via the health insurance companies.
The HSE said it has a statutory obligation to charge and collect these charges and hospitals have the discretion to operate payment plans where appropriate.
If any patient has difficulty paying a hospital bill, the HSE said, it would advise they contact their hospital directly to discuss this on a one-to-one basis.
