The Swiss equivalent of the Polish medical title lekarz is Arzt/Ärztin. You need to get it before you can practise medicine in Switzerland. This is permitted after your Polish medical diploma (lekarz) is recognized as equivalent to a Swiss diploma by the Medical Professions Commission (MEBEKO), Department of Education, in the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG).

Upon my inquiry, a lawyer from the Federal Office of Public Health told me that for the recognition process, they look at the Polish medical degree called "Dyplom ukończenia studiów wyższych na kierunku lekarskim z tytułem „lekarza“", and added that everything they do is in accordance with the EU Directive 2005/36 and the Free Movement Agreement between the EU and Switzerland. 

Monika Korenkiewicz from our Dean's Office told me that the aforementioned diploma is received after finishing all 6th year exams, within 30 days from the date of the last exam, LEK and Staz independent. 

Consequently, in order to become Arzt/Ärztin in Switzerland, the university's graduation diploma and a certificate from the Center for Medical Examinations (meaning taking and passing the LEK) is required.

Procedure

You have to complete all steps of the application form "Antragsformular: Direkte Anerkennung eines Diploms", and send it together with all the other required documents to this postbox: 


Bundesamt für Gesundheit МЕВЕКО Schwarzenburgstrasse 157 CH - 3003 Bern

The processing fee will cost somewhere between 800 to 1000 CHF and is sent to you via invoice after they received and verified your documents. 

Once they received the money, they will send you a document confirming recognition and qualification, granting you to start applying/working as a Arzt/Ärztin in Switzerland! 

Requirements

The above mentioned application form must be accompanied by: *

(Recommended layout: 1 - Personal Data, 2 - Education History, 3 - Clinical Experience, 4 - Scientific Involvement, 5 - Honorary Positions, 6 - Language skills (incl. proof; e.g., Cambridge Advanced et al.), 7 - Hard & Soft Skills)

The authenticity of a copy can be certified by a notary, local authority official, court, consulate or embassy (from EU/EFTA member states or Switzerland). All Polish documents should be translated by a professional sworn translator. For details on translations, see the Swiss Association of Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters (ASTTI).


* Please check for the full list in the Antragsformular, I just wanted to highlight the most important points that require early action from you

Support

If you seek support before starting your process, I can personally recommend emailing your questions to the BAG (Public Health Office) directly.  They are the responsible health authority, and I would say that nobody else will know better than them. I received my answers from a lawyer of theirs only a day after (!).

In my case, the email I used was info@bag.admin.ch, and a resonse came from MEBEKO@bag.admin.ch

If your questions are more general in nature, or you just want to read about Switzerland as an option, definitely check out this subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolEU/wiki/index/switzerland/.

Good luck!

This page is edited by

Matthias Koch

Class of 2025