by Are you a foreign-trained medical doctor? Do you want to work in Kuwait as a foreign-trained doctor? To work in Kuwait as a foreign-trained doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife or allied health worker, you will need to obtain the relevant practice licence from the Kuwait Ministry of Health.
Required documents to obtain Kuwait medical practice licence
Foreign-trained doctors will need the following documents to apply for Kuwait medical practice licence.
- Application letter for Kuwait medical practice licence addressed to Kuwait Ministry of Health.
- Applicant’s curriculum Vitae, which should include the applicant’s qualifications and relevant work history.
- Applicant’s professional certificates/degrees. This includes Bachelor’s degree (MBBS), Bachelor’s transcript, internship certificate and postgraduate degree.
- Certificate of experience from the hospitals/institutions the applicant has worked with. This should include the participant’s clinical and non-clinical experience in chronological order post-graduation.
- Applicant’s medical practice licence from the country where the applicant was working.
- Certificate of good standing. This is issued either by the last hospital/institution the applicant has worked with or the country medical council.
- Applicant’s international passport with at least two years validity. The two-year passport validity will also apply when the applicant has passed the online interview and your Kuwait visa processing has commenced. Thus, if possible, it is better to have at least 3 years of passport validity before applying. Otherwise, you run the risk of being asked to renew your international passport during the application process, even after passing the online interview.
- Recommendation letter from three individuals from your previous place of work.
- Applicant’s passport photograph.
- EPIC ID. The applicant can start the application process, without the EPIC ID, however, before the process is completed the applicant’s qualifications will be verified by EPIC.
Steps to Work in Kuwait as a Foreign-trained Doctor
To work in Kuwait as a foreign-trained doctor, the applicant will need to obtain a medical practice licence from the Ministry of Health of Kuwait before they can practice medicine in the state of Kuwait.
Non-Kuwait-trained doctors who intend to practice in Kuwait need to obtain the required documents for Kuwait medical practice licensure. After getting the required documents, the Applicant should submit the documents to the Kuwait Ministry of Health via courier or email.
Alternatively, If the applicant has a friend or relative living in Kuwait he or she can submit the application on the applicant’s behalf to the Ministry of Health Kuwait.
The ministry reviews the submitted documents and the applicant’s qualifications are sent to the Kuwait Ministry of Higher Education for review after that the applicant’s application is presented to the speciality/exam committee for a personal online interview.
The personal interview is usually online since the applicant is likely, not domiciled in Kuwait. The interview can only be scheduled once irrespective of the outcome. Thus the applicant should prepare well to increase their chances of success.
Successful applicants will have their files forwarded to the special contracts department for further approval. Usually, the applicant will receive the contract and job offer letter via email from the special contracts unit within three to six months after the online interview.
If the applicant accepts the job offer and signs the contract, then the candidate’s visa and work permit is processed and when ready the candidate travels to Kuwait for documentation and resumption of duty.
In addition, the applicant must pass a medical check-up at a designated medical facility in the present country where he or she resides before travelling work in Kuwait as a foreign-trained doctor.
Note: Kuwait government employs primarily specialists and consultants. There rarely employ medical officers who do not have any postgraduate clinical qualifications and experience. However, private hospitals in Kuwait recruits all cadre of doctors through their agents with similar terms of service with Kuwait government hospitals.
Conclusion
To work in Kuwait as a foreign-trained doctor is achievable once all the required documents are obtained and submitted. Good luck.
For comments/ clarifications on how to work in Kuwait as a foreign-trained doctor, please use the comment section.
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