Dubai Healthcare City Authority — General Surgery licensing examination
Gulf · AE · $99, the same everywhere
This exam has its own preparation
We publish the syllabus the DHCC is actually set from — in full, free, on that page — along with the two others of the Gulf. No other vendor does: they describe the syllabus, we print it. The oral simulator runs in the Saudi MCSA format, with its four competence domains and the fatal-error rule.
How this examination works
Dubai Healthcare City is a free zone with its own regulator, and that is the trap that catches newcomers: working in a DHCC hospital requires a DHCC licence, even though you are in Dubai and even if you hold a DHA one. Two separate registers inside the same emirate, and one licence does not automatically carry to the other. Before preparing anything, check which of the two jurisdictions the centre you want falls under.
Who can sit it
Its syllabus IS published, and we have transcribed it: the DHCA examination guide carries the whole of it on page 17, sixteen domains with the weight of each. The finding is that those sixteen carry the SAME names as Dubai’s and Qatar’s — including «Pediatrics» spelled the DHA way — but with different weights and a different paper: a hundred questions and a 70% pass mark, against a hundred and fifty and 65% for the other two. The Gulf pattern is shared in the syllabus, not in the examination. And there is one concrete exemption: a holder of a valid DHA licence applying for the same title and specialty does not sit this paper.
Checked against the body itself on 4 September 2026. Procedures change; if this no longer matches what you were asked for, write and tell us.
Examination structure
What we have written against this syllabus
These are the domains as Dubai Healthcare City Authority publishes them, not our summary of them, with the number of questions we hold against each. A domain we have not covered is shown as zero rather than hidden.
| Domain | Questions |
|---|---|
| DHCC-01 Fluid and Electrolytes p. 17, §4.11.7 | 500 |
| DHCC-02 Shock p. 17, §4.11.7 | 450 |
| DHCC-03 Sepsis and Surgical Infections p. 17, §4.11.7 | 550 |
| DHCC-04 Perioperative Care p. 17, §4.11.7 | 250 |
| DHCC-05 Trauma and Critical Care p. 17, §4.11.7 | 850 |
| DHCC-06 Endocrine and Breast p. 17, §4.11.7 | 1,050 |
| DHCC-07 Upper GI p. 17, §4.11.7 | 1,050 |
| DHCC-08 Colorectal and Perianal p. 17, §4.11.7 | 1,151 |
| DHCC-09 Hepato-biliary p. 17, §4.11.7 | 1,050 |
| DHCC-10 Patient safety p. 17, §4.11.7 | 250 |
| DHCC-11 Pancreas and Spleen p. 17, §4.11.7 | 1,050 |
| DHCC-12 Hernia (all) p. 17, §4.11.7 | 300 |
| DHCC-13 Vascular p. 17, §4.11.7 | 150 |
| DHCC-14 Pediatrics p. 17, §4.11.7 | 150 |
| DHCC-15 Skin and Soft Tissue p. 17, §4.11.7 | 100 |
| DHCC-16 Professionalism and Ethics p. 17, §4.11.7 | 250 |
4,351 distinct questions map to this syllabus. A question counts once per domain it serves, so the column adds up to more than the bank.
Common questions about this examination
What are the parts of the DHCC examination?
Dubai Healthcare City Authority sets 1 component: DHCA Licensing Examination — General Surgery (code GENSU) (a written multiple-choice paper, 100 questions, 3 hours).
How many questions are in the DHCC examination?
100 across all written components, as published by Dubai Healthcare City Authority.
What does the DHCC syllabus cover?
16 domains published by Dubai Healthcare City Authority: Fluid and Electrolytes, Shock, Sepsis and Surgical Infections, Perioperative Care, Trauma and Critical Care, Endocrine and Breast, and others.
Where is the official DHCC syllabus published?
Dubai Healthcare City Authority publishes it at https://dhcc.ae/Documents/LawsAndRegulations/Guidelines/DHCA%20Licensing%20Exam%20Guide%20for%20Professionals.pdf. Our question mapping is taken from that document, domain by domain.
What is the DHCC examination like?
Dubai Healthcare City is a free zone with its own regulator, and that is the trap that catches newcomers: working in a DHCC hospital requires a DHCC licence, even though you are in Dubai and even if you hold a DHA one. Two separate registers inside the same emirate, and one licence does not automatically carry to the other. Before preparing anything, check which of the two jurisdictions the centre you want falls under.
Who can sit the DHCC?
Its syllabus IS published, and we have transcribed it: the DHCA examination guide carries the whole of it on page 17, sixteen domains with the weight of each. The finding is that those sixteen carry the SAME names as Dubai’s and Qatar’s — including «Pediatrics» spelled the DHA way — but with different weights and a different paper: a hundred questions and a 70% pass mark, against a hundred and fifty and 65% for the other two. The Gulf pattern is shared in the syllabus, not in the examination. And there is one concrete exemption: a holder of a valid DHA licence applying for the same title and specialty does not sit this paper.
Is there a question bank for the DHCC?
This one. 5,000 single-best-answer questions across the whole of general surgery, each with the reasoning for every option rather than only the correct one, written by a consultant surgical oncologist. It is written to the discipline, not transcribed from the DHCC blueprint — general surgery is general surgery wherever it is examined, and we say plainly which boards we have mapped and which we have not.
What level are the questions for the DHCC?
2,051 of the 5,000 — 41% — sit at the hardest level. For a licence like the DHCC that matters differently than it does for an exit board: this is not measuring a residency curriculum but clinical breadth to practise, so what fails candidates is rarely the hard subspecialty question and usually the on-call one that was assumed known. That is why the Gulf bank is cut to the published syllabuses.
What does preparation for the DHCC cost?
One payment of $99 for 180 days, the same from wherever you pay — there is no country pricing. It covers the whole bank, the oral simulator and the timed mock papers. Nothing renews and no card is kept on file afterwards. Fifty questions are free with an account, so you can judge the level before paying. All three Gulf syllabuses are published in full and free, whether you buy anything or not.
Every answer above is taken from the examining body’s own published document, not from our reading of it.
Other examinations in Gulf
- Dubai Health Authority — General Surgery licensing examination — Dubai Health Authority
- Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners — General Surgery licensing examination — Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners — Department of Healthcare Professions
- Saudi Commission for Health Specialties — General Surgery classification examination — Saudi Commission for Health Specialties
- UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention — General Surgery licensing examination — Ministry of Health and Prevention (northern emirates)
- Department of Health Abu Dhabi (formerly HAAD) — General Surgery licensing examination — Department of Health — Abu Dhabi
- Kuwait Ministry of Health — General Surgery licensing examination — Kuwait Ministry of Health
What the access covers for this examination
One access, one price: the whole bank, the timed mock papers and the oral simulator in the Saudi MCSA format. For this examination it also means the published syllabus, which is on that page in full and free whether you buy anything or not. One payment, no renewal, and the same price wherever you pay from.
180 days
$99
Up to 6 oral stations a day, examiner-led and marked by domain. The courses that prepare the Saudi oral charge for a single mock viva.