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50-hour yearly study a must for doctors

Representatives from the Emirates Medical Association (EMA), the General Authority for Health Services for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (GAHS) and the UAE Ministry of Health yesterday announced the new rule, which will come into effect from January 1, while revising an existing one.

Dr Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Ghafoor, Assistant Under-secretary for Curative Medicine at the Ministry of Health, said, “The continuing education of healthcare practitioners ensures that doctors are up-to-date with advances in treatment methods and this benefit is ultimately translated into better standards of medical care.” “We are also considering to implement a unified standard of acquiring CME hours which will be implemented through the EMA within two years,” added Dr Ghafoor.

The required hours will be divided into 20 hours for specialists and 30 hours for general practitioners.

“To help medical practitioners carry on with the education, we give them 15 days off with paid leave yearly, air tickets in case they have to travel abroad as well as a daily allowance,” he said.

“As in most of the countries across the world, the renewal of physicians, nurses and technicians’ medical licences in the UAE will now be dependant on the completion of a minimum number of CME hours. We are confident that this initiative will be of benefit to the medical community and the public,” added Dr Ghafoor.

Dr Abdulrazak Abyad, CME Team Leader, Health and Policy Regulation, General Authority for Health Services for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, said, “Since 2004, the GAHS has required physicians and dentists to participate in continuing education programmes and from next year, it will be directly linked to the renewal of medical licences.”

He said practitioners will be given an extra month if they haven’t completed the hours needed for renewal. “Nurses and pharmacists need 20 hours in a year,” he added.

Dr Abyad also said medical practitioners could avail of double credit hours as well if they fulfil certain criteria.

“We have divided the credit hours into 25 hours each. These are two categories; one is structured learning and the second is the American system which stresses on self-learning, if the doctors fulfil these criteria, they can acquire 25 hours in one category,” he explained.

• UAE