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Dubai Healthcare City introduces online licensing exams

The online exams will help increase the pool of healthcare professionals and operators, boosting the emirate’s economy and promoting specialisation.

Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) on Tuesday announced online examinations for physicians and dentists from more than 30 countries representing Eastern Europe, South East Asia, the MENA region and the Indian subcontinent.

The introduction of online licensing exams is part of a phased plan to strengthen DHCC’s regulatory standards in line with the agreement signed by UAE health authorities for the unification of medical licensing, and in line with the Dubai Smart Government initiative.

The country list now has India, Egypt and Pakistan, among other countries. The online exams will help increase the pool of healthcare professionals and operators, boosting the emirate’s economy and promoting specialisation.

DHCC has partnered with renowned testing provider Prometric to ensure that the online licensing exam follows stringent check-in procedures that require biometric (fingerprint) capture.

Regulation and licensure of DHCC-based healthcare professionals and healthcare operators is handled by the Centre for Healthcare Planning and Quality (CPQ), an independent regulator overseen by Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA), the governing body and regulator of Dubai Healthcare City.

The online DHCA exam is a non-eligibility exam administered by Prometric. Once a candidate passes the exam, he or she can apply for licensure through CPQ provided all other eligibility requirements are met for that specific professional category. These eligibility requirements include education, training, licensure and work experience.

Currently, 11 exams are available for physicians and dentists: gastroenterology, general dentistry, general medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, orthopedic surgery, paediatrics, periodontics and prosthodontics.

Additional licensing exams will be introduced in phases over 2014-2015.

Candidates can visit the Prometric website to register and schedule a DHCA exam.

Marwan Abedin, CEO, Dubai Healthcare City, said, “Our stringent regulatory framework is the basis of our success for more than a decade. The global healthcare landscape is evolving rapidly and, as we aim to meet the growing demand for quality healthcare in the region, we constantly look for new talent in a number of medical fields. The online examinations and the updated list of countries reflect this growth.”

Dr Ramadan Ibrahim, Managing Director, Dubai Healthcare City Authority Regulator, said, “Strengthening our licensing framework is a core component of maintaining and enhancing our regulatory standards. To update our framework, we monitored requests from healthcare professionals who want to work at DHCC, assessed growing demands in certain specialties which are prominent in certain countries, and undertook careful review of a number of educational and accreditation factors in each of the new countries.”

Michael Brannick, President and CEO of Prometric, commented on the partnership, saying, “Upholding the UAE’s rigorous standards for medical licensing is a key objective for us as we look to ensure that only qualified healthcare providers receive credentials to deliver patient care. Our dedicated team of psychometricians, test center administrators, candidate care professionals, content security managers and other support staff and leadership will ensure that DHCC physicians pass a world-class computer-based examination programme.”