Department of Health – Abu Dhabi issues 4,200 medical licenses across 10 weeks

 The Healthcare Professionals Licensing Department at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) has announced today the issuance of 4,200 medical licenses in a span of 10 weeks, which was the same amount of time required previously to issue 1,200 medical licenses. The licenses issued were for doctors, nurses, and workers in supporting services.

This comes as part of a series of initiatives and programmes launched by DoH, in line with its efforts to deal with the COVID-19 situation, through facilitating easier and faster licensing procedures that now only requires requesting the main documents to license healthcare professionals. These series of initiatives and programmes also aid in coordinating with less active healthcare facilities to assist hospitals serving in the first line of defence with COVID-19 patients, through the secondment and rotation of healthcare professionals.

Laila Mohammed Al Zubaidi, Acting Director of Credentialing & Licensing Department at DoH, said: "We have been keen to ensure that healthcare facilities in the public and private sectors are provided with the necessary competencies and human cadres to meet the increasing demand caused as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. We worked to enhance their capabilities and capacity in line with the future needs and ensure that all members of society receive the necessary healthcare. We encourage healthcare workers who wish to obtain a license to apply electronically through the "data flow" platform."

"We worked closely with healthcare facilities to explore ways that can facilitate the licensing issuance process, in order to enable the continuation of attracting suitable and experienced competencies to work in the sector and that are able to contribute to achieving the highest levels of quality of healthcare services provided." Al Zubaidi added.

DoH highlighted that the duration required for issuing a medical license is just one day, as written, oral and practical examinations were postponed, in order to avoid any delay in providing healthcare facilities with the required resources, while ensuring that all competencies and professional skills are in line with the approved standards. In addition to that, all medical personnel are provided with extensive online and practical medical training to ensure that they carry out their required roles and tasks efficiently.

DoH has also allowed all licensed physicians in the UAE to work under any facility in the UAE, to ensure wide exchange of expertise amongst all healthcare professional. Moreover, DoH facilitated the payment mechanism for the issuance of medical licenses, by settling the fees that are due in the process of issuing temporary licenses and postponing them to December 2020.

Healthcare workers who wish to obtain a licence can apply on DoH's online system. To learn more about the terms and conditions of applying and the required documents, please visit the website: https://www.doh.gov.ae/en/Services/Professionals