The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi admits 484 medical graduates into its Medical Education Programmes

24 Jul, 2023:

The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in the emirate, admitted 484 graduates to medical, dental and pharmacy residency and fellowship programmes as part of the department's Medical Education Programme. The largest batch of participants saw an estimated increase of 12% compared to the previous year, bringing the number of current trainees in the programmes to 1412 participants.

DoH developed a distinct system for its programmes, which includes new registration conditions that guarantee the availability of training opportunities for UAE national applicants, graduates residing in the UAE, and graduates from universities outside the country. 
The Department has witnessed a remarkable participation in its Distinction in Medical Internship Programme from both the private and public sectors in the emirate. The Programme received 203 trainees this year compared to 196 trainees last year. 

Dr. Rashid Obaid Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of the Healthcare Workforce Sector at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) said: ‘The Department of Health Abu Dhabi continues its efforts to attract more national and international human capabilities to the healthcare sector by providing educational and training programmes in accordance with international best practices. The distinguished competencies and expertise, in addition to the emirate's advanced infrastructure and agile healthcare system, contribute to achieving DoH’s goals to consolidate Abu Dhabi's position as a leading destination for healthcare globally.”

Al Suwaidi added: “We are keen to continue cooperating and working alongside healthcare facilities in public and private sectors in the emirate to ensure and facilitate community access to care services in various specialties. We recently added new specialisations including Pediatric Surgery to the programme at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City Hospital, and Gastroenterology and Clinical Pharmacy Program in infusions disease Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.”

This year, DoH’s programmes has expanded to offer 36 medical specialties in eight accredited institutions for advanced training compared to just 32 last year. The specialties include general surgery, Paediatric surgery, internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, anaesthesiology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, dermatology, urology and radiology. As well as a number of fellowships subspecialities including oncology, rheumatology, haematology, neonatology, cardiology, nephrology and gastroenterology. In addition to specialities in dentistry such as Dental internship, paediatric dentistry, orthodontics and prosthodontics. 

As part of the Clinical Pharmacy Residency Programme, a total of 9 training opportunities were provided to Sheikh Shakhboot Medical City, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Tawam Hospital and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi with a new speciality in infectious disease PGY2. 

In 2010, DoH launched its Medical Education Programme in an effort empower healthcare professionals to pursue further education on specialities through providing them with training opportunities in accordance with the international best standards. Training opportunities are accredited by The Arab Board of Health Specialisation, Jordan Medical Council and the National Institute for Health Specialities (Emirati Board) and the Royal college of Canada. The programmes have witnessed the participation of over 2255 trainees till date.  

For more information on DoH’s Medical Education Programmes, please visit: https://www.doh.gov.ae/en/