DUBAI // Doctors and nurses will be able to practice anywhere in the country after a new system unifying the licensing of medical professionals is launched next week. An agreement was signed by Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, the Minister of Health, Essa Al Maidoor, the director general of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), and Dr Maha Barakat, director general of the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haad) on the sidelines of the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress earlier this year to make it easier for doctors to practice in different emirates. The Ministry of Health, DHA and Haad will begin implementing the new system from Sunday, reported Wam, the state news agency. “The agreement paves way for medical professionals to work across the UAE and is important as it unifies as well as streamlines the professional medical licensure process,” said Mr Al Maidoor. The move has several benefits for the healthcare sector, he said. It will also remove the confusion of getting licensing from various emirates. “With the introduction of this process, all healthcare professionals will be evaluated based on the same criteria across the UAE,” said Mr Al Maidoor. Under the new guidelines, all professionals graduating from accredited programmes in the UAE will be exempt from experience requirement. It will mean they can begin practicing in their field of medicine or nursing after completing a medical programme and internship. For the first two years, they will work under supervision in a secondary or tertiary hospital. Mr Al Maidoor said, for some medics, the number of years required for a specialist physician or dentist to become a consultant has been reduced from eight to five to help professionals grow in their field. Mr Al Maidoor said holders of American board, Canadian board, and Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training holders from UK will be eligible to be consultants directly. It is also now possible for local healthcare professionals with a gap of 10 years and expatriate medical professionals with a gap of five years to return to practice after meeting a certain criteria.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 08:54:48 +0000
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