DOH License for Healthcare Professionals in Abu Dhabi

Checking Your Eligibility

The department checks your qualifications and experience against the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements (PQR) for your title. Specialist and Consultant requirements depend on the PQR tier of the country where you trained, and physicians trained in Tier 3 countries cannot hold the Consultant title. Before you apply, we check your title against the PQR, so you apply for a title you qualify for. The minimum for common titles:

• General Practitioner: the internship year, then two years in clinical practice
• General Dentist: the internship, then two years of practice
• Registered Nurse: a bachelor's degree in nursing; no minimum experience
• Pharmacist: two years after qualifying, not counting work for pharmaceutical companies or in sales

Applying for Your DOH License on TAMM

You apply for a DOH license through TAMM, the Abu Dhabi government services platform. We file your application on TAMM and keep you informed of what is outstanding at each stage.

DataFlow Verification for Your License

DataFlow confirms your degrees, experience, licenses and good standing with the institutions that issued them. We prepare your documents for DataFlow and follow the verification until your report is complete.

Passing the DOH Exam

If your title requires it, you book the DOH licensing exam with Pearson VUE from your TAMM account. We guide you through the booking and the exam requirements for your title, so you sit it at the right point in your application.

Checking for an Exam Exemption

You may not need the exam if you are a UAE national, if you hold a qualification or registration on the PQR lists, such as US or UK board certification, PLAB, USMLE or NCLEX, or if you already hold a valid DHA, MOHAP or SHA license for the same title with a good standing certificate and a full DataFlow report. We confirm whether an exemption applies to you before you book an exam.

Moving From DHA or MOHAP

Apply to DOH for a transfer on TAMM while your current license is still valid. Your DataFlow report is transferred to DOH, which may ask for more verification, and specialist titles also need your residency programme documents. Your Abu Dhabi employer then activates the license. Most transfers take 4 to 6 weeks. See license transfers between authorities.

Activating and Keeping Your License

Once the department confirms you are eligible for the title, your license becomes active when a licensed facility in Abu Dhabi employs you and activates it. Every year you complete continuing education in your specialty: 40 CME credits for physicians and dentists, 20 for nurses and pharmacists, and 10 for allied health professionals. Surgical specialists also submit a logbook every two years for renewal.

Avoiding Delays

• Get a recent good standing certificate. It must come from the regulator where you last practised and be no more than six months old when you apply.
• Check your time out of practice. After more than three years, the PQR requires CME credits and a training period in an approved setting. Non-UAE nationals cannot apply after more than five years away.
• Use an exemption while it applies. No exemption applies after more than two years out of practice.

The license is issued by the Department of Health Abu Dhabi; a DHA or MOHAP license does not cover Abu Dhabi. Not sure which authority applies to you? Compare DHA, DOH and MOHAP.