Training must to renew healthcare work licenses

BY PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 11 March 2010

THE medical professionals in the UAE will have to compulsorily attend specialist training programmes and accredited continuing medical education (CME) programmes to get their working licences renewed.

All categories of medical professionals including doctors, pharmaceutical and technicians, who try to obtain or renew their professional permit to work in the country, should pass the technical and professional programmes and spend specific hours in the accredited CME sessions, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

The new regulatory measures will take effect by July 1, as the health ministry aims at achieving quality performance of the medical human resources in the country, said a senior MoH member.

Dr Amin Hussein Al Amiri, executive director for medical practice and licencing at the MoH, said, "Doctors, surgeons, and practitioners in all categories including dental specialists must complete 30 training hours of CME programmes."

"The pharmacists, nurses and technicians should attend respectively 20, 15 and 10 hours of training programmes. Other applied medical professionals must complete 15 hours as a basic requirement for professional development training," he added.

Al Amiri said that the MoH will also launch a dedicated electronic website for the continuing medical training programme. The doctors, pharmacists and technicians can register at the web portal to book their specialist training courses and get equipped with related information.

"A circular has been issued by the MoH to directors of all types of healthcare facilities both in public and private sectors in the country," he noted.

"The circular has already been dispatched to hospitals, primary healthcare centres, pharmaceutical institutes, agencies and establishments, medical zones, medical colleges and universities, deans of health and pharmaceutical sciences, private health centres, medical warehouses, as well as scientific offices and technicians," he explained.

"The MoH will organise the mandatory educational and training programmes for both medical and pharmaceutical professionals throughout the year, in addition to the supervision, coordination and dissemination of similar programmes being organised by the health and education bodies in the UAE," he said.

According to Al Amiri, the move comes considering an urgent need for improving the professional performance of the country's medical specialists and paramedical professionals up to the highest global standards and best practices.

"A number of procedures concerning the professional development and CME programmes will become a necessary condition for obtaining or renewing the professional licence for public and private doctors, pharmacists and technicians," he noted.

"The professional training and continuing medical training programmes for doctors, pharmacists and technicians shall be accredited by the health ministry as well as other local health authorities across the UAE," said Al Amiri.

"The annual performance reports, promotions and benefits of the medical professionals also will be considered as a condition for renewing their working permits," he added.