Disadvantages of Studying MBBS in Poland: 2026 Honest Guide

The main disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland are cost, language and the route back to India. Tuition is high and rises during the course, you must learn Polish to talk to patients, Poland's English internship is shorter than the twelve months the NMC asks for, and very few Indian students study there. None of these is a deal breaker. All of them are easier to handle if you know them before you apply.

Poland is a serious option. Its state medical universities teach a full six year MD in English and sit inside the EU system. But a good decision needs the downsides on the table, with real numbers, and that's what this guide does.

Key Takeaways

• It is not cheap. Six years of tuition is 89,600 euros in Lodz and 94,300 euros in Bialystok on 2026/2027 rates, and Poznan charges PLN 485,000.
• Fees can climb. Poznan's yearly fee goes up by about 21 percent from year 3, and Bialystok says its fee may rise by up to 30 percent over the course.
• Polish is compulsory. Bialystok's 2026/27 curriculum has an obligatory 100 hour Medical Polish course so you can take a patient's history in Polish.
• The internship needs planning. The English route after graduation lasts 6 to 7 months; the NMC's FMGL Regulations 2021 ask for a 12 month internship in the same foreign institution.
• You will have few Indian seniors. Only 15 Poland graduates sat the FMGE in December 2025, against 42,868 candidates in total.

What are the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland?

The disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland fall into five groups: money, language, the internship, the long road home and a small Indian community. Each one is documented by a Polish university, India's National Medical Commission (NMC) or the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).

Here are the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland in one place:

If you're still weighing countries in general, our guide to the disadvantages of studying MBBS abroad covers the problems every destination shares. This post stays with the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland only.

How expensive is MBBS in Poland, really?

MBBS in Poland costs between roughly 89,600 and 94,300 euros in tuition alone at Lodz and Bialystok, before rent, food and travel. Poznan publishes its total in Polish zloty: PLN 485,000 for six years. That makes cost the first of the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland that families feel.

Here is how the three universities we work with set their 2026/2027 fees:

• Medical University of Lodz: 15,100 euros for year 1, then 14,900 euros a year for years 2 to 6. You also pay a 24 euro application fee before the entrance exam on MS Teams.
• Medical University of Bialystok: 15,100 euros a year for years 1 to 3, 16,200 euros for years 4 and 5 and 16,600 euros in year 6. There's a 200 euro admission fee before the interview and a 400 euro online pre-course in September of year 1. The page also says the fee may increase by up to 30 percent during the course.
• Poznan University of Medical Sciences: PLN 71,000 a year for years 1 and 2, then PLN 85,750 a year for years 3 to 6. Year 1 is split into four instalments, starting with a PLN 4,800 down payment.

Two things make this harder than the headline number. First, the currency: you earn and save in rupees but pay in euros or zloty, so a weaker rupee raises your real cost every year. Second, living costs come on top. Poznan's own estimate for a student is 800 to 1,600 US dollars a month for rent, food, transport, insurance and the rest.

For a full monthly budget, our guide to the cost of living in Europe for Indian MBBS students breaks down rent, food and insurance city by city.

Do you need to learn Polish to study medicine in Poland?

Yes. Language is the second of the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland, and the one students underestimate most. Your lectures are in English, but your patients speak Polish, so Polish universities teach it as a required subject. The Medical University of Bialystok's 2026/27 first year syllabus lists Medical Polish as obligatory, with 100 hours of practical classes across semesters 1 to 4.

The stated goal is practical. By the end, you should be able to take a basic patient history in Polish, at the A1 level of the European language scale. A1 is the beginner level: greetings, simple questions, numbers, body parts.

So where's the catch? A1 gets you through history taking with help. It doesn't make you fluent on a busy ward. In the clinical years you'll learn more when you can follow what the patient, the nurse and the doctor are saying, and that takes effort well beyond the classroom hours.

Polish matters again after you graduate. To get the full, unlimited licence to practise in Poland, you also have to pass the Polish language exam of the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, as Poznan University of Medical Sciences explains. Our post on how to work as a doctor in Poland walks through that exam in detail.

Does the Polish internship match the NMC rules?

This is the most important of the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland for anyone who wants to practise in India. It is not that Poland is "not recognised". It is that the internship routes in Poland and the NMC's rules don't line up neatly, so you need to plan it.

India's Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations 2021 (FMGL) say a foreign graduate gets permanent registration in India only after:

• a course of at least 54 months, taught in English;
• an internship of at least 12 months in the same foreign medical institution;
• registration with the licensing body of the country that awarded the degree, at par with its own citizens;
• a 12 month supervised internship in India, and the screening test (FMGE now, NExT later).

In Poland, the internship (called staz podyplomowy) is a postgraduate step that comes after the six year MD, and the universities list three main ways to do it:

Sources: Medical University of Lodz, Poznan University of Medical Sciences and Medical University of Bialystok, read on 12 October 2026.

The English route is the one most Indian graduates would naturally pick, because it doesn't need Polish to start. Poznan says it was created by a 2024 amendment (Journal of Laws 2024, item 1287) and must be done within two years of the graduation date on your diploma. But it lasts 6 or 7 months, not the 12 months the FMGL text names. The 13 month Polish route covers the length, but you need Polish good enough to work in a Polish hospital.

What should you do with this? Don't guess. Before you pay the first fee, ask the university in writing how its graduates document the internship for the NMC, and keep an eye on NMC rules for MBBS abroad, because they do change.

How long until you can practise in India?

Longer than in India, and longer than many families expect. Time is one of the quieter disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland. If you add up the FMGL steps, an Indian student in Poland is looking at roughly seven and a half to eight years before permanent registration at home. That's our arithmetic from the official rules, not a published figure:

1. Six years of MD study in Poland.
2. A postgraduate internship of 6 to 13 months in Poland, depending on the route you choose.
3. Passing the FMGE (or NExT, once it replaces the FMGE), held by NBEMS.
4. A 12 month supervised internship in India after applying to the NMC.
5. Permanent registration with the NMC or your State Medical Council.

None of these steps can be skipped. Our explainer on FMG internship and registration covers the Indian side, and the FMGE result guide shows what happens after the exam. And before any of this, you must have qualified NEET. NEETsheet's guide to NEET qualifying marks explains the percentile you need.

How small is the Indian student community in Poland?

Very small, and among the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland this is the one that hits a 17 year old far from home hardest. The best official signal is the FMGE, because every Indian foreign graduate who wants to practise at home has to clear it. In the NBEMS FMGE Performance Report 2025, Poland graduates were a tiny group:

• December 2025 session: 15 candidates with a Polish degree appeared, out of 42,868 in total. 9 of them passed.
• June 2025 session: 3 candidates with a Polish degree appeared, out of 36,037 in total. 2 of them passed.

Compare that with Kyrgyzstan (7,437 candidates in December 2025), Russia (6,878) or the Philippines (4,864). Fewer Indians means fewer seniors to ask about exams, fewer people sharing Indian food on festival days and fewer friends who know the FMGE.

There's an honest flip side in the same report. Small numbers make pass rates jumpy, so don't read too much into them, but Poland graduates did well: 9 of 15 passed in December 2025, against 10,264 of 42,868 candidates overall.

What else catches Indian students off guard?

A few smaller disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland come up again and again:

• The entrance step costs money. Lodz charges its application fee before the online exam, and Bialystok charges 200 euros before the interview. Neither is refunded.
• Your licence exam is Polish. To practise in Poland or use automatic EU recognition, you need the national LEK exam. Its organiser, the Medical Examinations Centre (CEM), sets the pass mark at 56 percent and charges PLN 400 for each foreign language registration.
• Winters are cold and the days are short. If you've never lived through a European winter, read our winter survival guide for Indian MBBS students before you pack.
• You pay for the English internship. Poznan says the cost is set per participant, on top of six years of tuition.

The honest upside

The disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland are real, but they come with clear rules, which is not true everywhere. The universities publish their fees, curricula and graduate routes openly. The MD is an EU qualification: Lodz notes that graduates who finish the internship and pass the LEK also gain the right to practise in other EU countries under Directive 2005/36/EC, subject to each country's own rules. And the small group of Poland graduates who sat the FMGE in 2025 did better than average.

So is it for you? It fits a student with a solid budget, the patience to learn Polish from year 1 and a clear plan for the internship. It fits less well if money is tight or you want a big Indian community around you.

How should you check a Polish university before you apply?

Use this checklist so that none of the disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland surprises you later:

1. Confirm you have qualified NEET in the right year, using NEETsheet's guide to NEET 2027 eligibility if you're still preparing.
2. Read the university's own fee page and note the yearly fee for all six years, not only year 1.
3. Add living costs, the admission fee, the pre-course and the English internship fee to your six year budget.
4. Ask the university in writing how its Indian graduates document a 12 month internship for the NMC.
5. Check the Polish language plan in the curriculum and start learning before you arrive.
6. Read the latest NMC notices on foreign medical graduates before you pay any deposit.

Our full guide to MBBS in Poland for Indian students and the Poland country page cover the universities, admission tests and application steps.

Talk it through before you decide

Every country has trade-offs. The disadvantages of studying MBBS in Poland are easier to manage when you plan for them from day one.

Sources

• Medical University of Lodz, "Tuition and other fees", 6 year MD, for students starting in October 2026, read on 12 October 2026: studymed.umed.pl
• Medical University of Bialystok, "Tuition and fees", updated 5 February 2026, read on 12 October 2026: umb.edu.pl
• Poznan University of Medical Sciences, "Tuition and Costs of Living", academic year 2026/2027, read on 12 October 2026: pums.edu.pl
• Medical University of Bialystok, Medical Polish syllabus for the education cycle starting 2026/27, read on 12 October 2026: umb.edu.pl
• Poznan University of Medical Sciences, "Post-graduate Internship in English" (Journal of Laws 2024, item 1287; Polish language exam for the unlimited licence), read on 12 October 2026: pums.edu.pl
• Medical University of Lodz, "Post-graduate internship" (13 month staz, 6 month English internship, Directive 2005/36/EC), read on 12 October 2026: studymed.umed.pl
• Medical University of Bialystok, "LEK and Staz Info", read on 12 October 2026: studentguide.umb.edu.pl
• Medical Examinations Centre (CEM), LEK information (56 percent pass mark, PLN 400 per foreign language registration), read on 12 October 2026: cem.edu.pl
• National Medical Commission, Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations 2021, regulation 4 and Schedule I, read on 12 October 2026: nmc.org.in
• National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, FMGE Performance Report 2025, country-wise counts for the June 2025 and December 2025 sessions, read on 12 October 2026: natboard.edu.in