Gulf licensing — Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Every vendor selling preparation for these examinations describes the syllabus. None of them publishes it. Here it is, transcribed from each authority’s own document, with the link to the original — because you should be able to check what you are being sold against the source.
Free · 34 pages · no account
The three syllabuses, in full, with the points that carry marks
The sixteen areas of the Dubai and Qatar paper with Qatar’s published weights, the eighteen sections of the Saudi oral with its four marking domains — and under each area, the board pearls, pitfalls and guideline notes from the course that belong to it. Sent as a PDF, yours to keep and to pass on.
One payment, no renewal, and the same price wherever you pay from. Below the cheapest question bank for these examinations, with the oral simulator included.
Dubai and Qatar set a written paper. Saudi Arabia does not: its professional-practice classification in general surgery is an oral, conducted remotely. A question bank alone cannot prepare that, which is why the oral simulator is the centre of this and not an extra.
Dubai Health Authority
Specialist title, code GEN5341, delivered by Prometric. The Consultant title is not on the computer-based list: it is assessed orally.
The authority’s own documentMore on the DHAQatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners — Department of Healthcare Professions
Only Category 3 candidates sit it. Anyone arriving with a Western, Arab or Gulf board is exempt.
The authority’s own documentMore on the QCHPSaudi Commission for Health Specialties
Conducted by tele-assessment, with two to four different examiners. Each encounter covers six to eight of the eighteen sections, and you are not told which.
The authority’s own documentMore on the SCFHSEvery Gulf authority sets its own General Surgeon paper through Prometric. These five do too, and the preparation covers them — but their official syllabus documents have not been located yet, so they are not claimed as transcribed.
Dubai and Qatar turned out to have the same sixteen areas, and both cite Saudi Commission documents. There is good reason to expect these five to follow the same pattern. Good reason is not verification, and the difference is the whole point of this page.
These are not two similar syllabuses. They are the same one: sixteen areas, identical names, the same number of questions and the same pass mark. The only textual difference between the two documents is that Dubai writes Pediatrics and Qatar writes Paediatrics. Qatar publishes weights; Dubai does not, so the percentages below are Qatar’s.
150 single-best-answer questions in three hours, 65% to pass, delivered by Prometric. Weights from the Qatari blueprint, page 21.
The SCFHS Multiple Case Structured Assessment blends an OSCE with a structured oral. It is marked on four named competence domains — not on the guideline knowledge a written paper tests — and it carries a rule that no question bank can prepare you for.
The eighteen sections
The four marking domains, as the Commission defines them
The rule that decides it
“Regardless of the number of satisfactory results achieved, the candidate can fail if any fatal mistakes are committed in a section during the evaluation.”
You can carry ninety per cent of a station and fail on one sentence. The simulator applies the rule and flags it separately from the mark, because a mock that quietly averages it away teaches you the wrong lesson.
Two to 4 stations of up to 30 minutes, 70% of sections at a satisfactory level to pass, results within fourteen business days.
17 of the 20 areas of the general bank. The other three are left out because they do not appear in any of the three official documents — not because they were hard to write.
In, because the syllabuses list it
Out, and why
Thoracic surgery, transplantation and statistical appraisal appear in none of the three documents. These are licensing examinations for practice, not exit examinations for a residency.
No country tiers on this one. The candidate for these three licences is almost always a surgeon trained elsewhere, and where your card is registered today says nothing about the post you are sitting for.
One price everywhere, because the candidate for these three licences is almost always a surgeon trained elsewhere. Where your card is registered today says nothing about the job you are sitting for.
Gulf licensing
$75
180 days