Starting July 1, 2026, the base salaries of doctors and dentists undergoing specialization as residents will increase. The Health Minister's draft regulation adjusts residents' salaries to the statutory minimum health care wage. The highest rates will cover doctors training in specializations deemed to be a priority for the health care system.
Resident salaries: New rates starting July 1, 2026.
Published May 6, 2026 10:17
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The Health Ministry has submitted for consultation a draft regulation raising the basic salaries of doctors and dentists undergoing specialty training as residents. The changes are to take effect on July 1, 2026, and will cover all residents.
As indicated in the justification of the draft, the purpose of the regulation is to adjust the salaries of doctors in the course of specialization to the requirements of the Act on the manner of determining the lowest basic salary of certain employees working in medical entities. The current rates no longer correspond to the statutory minimum, which in 2026 for a doctor without specialization is PLN 10,595.24 gross.
The basis for calculating this amount is the product of the work factor for a doctor without specialization (1.19) and the average salary in the national economy for 2025, which amounted to PLN 8903.56.
How much will a resident earn?
The draft maintains the existing mechanism for differentiating salaries - depending on the stage of training and whether a specialty is on the list of priority fields.
For priority specialties, the base salary will be:
- PLN 11,654.76 gross - in the first two years of residency,
- PLN 12,714.29 gross - after two years of training.
In turn, doctors pursuing specialization in other fields will receive:
- PLN 10,595.24 gross - in the first two years,
- PLN 10,913.10 gross - after the second year of residency.
Which specializations were considered a priority?
The higher pay will cover physicians specializing in 23 fields considered crucial to the health needs of society and the functioning of the health care system. These are:
- anesthesiology and intensive care,
- pediatric surgery,
- general surgery,
- oncology surgery,
- internal diseases,
- infectious diseases,
- geriatrics,
- Hematology,
- pediatric cardiology,
- palliative medicine,
- emergency medicine,
- family medicine,
- neonatology,
- neurology,
- pediatric neurology,
- pediatric oncology and hematology,
- clinical oncology,
- pathomorphology,
- pediatrics,
- psychiatry,
- child and adolescent psychiatry,
- radiation oncology,
- pediatric dentistry.
The ministry also maintains a special arrangement for dentists training in orthodontics who began specialization before July 1, 2020. They will retain the right to be paid at the level provided for priority fields - until the end of their training.
Source: RCL
