Did you know that Dubai offers internship, residency and fellowship training programmes?
Dubai is investing in its medical education and training capacity, The number of both undergraduate and postgraduate training opportunities is steadily increasing.
A well-regulated postgraduate medical training pathway acts to strengthen Dubai’s dynamic and growing health system and also provides specialists working in Dubai with opportunities for teaching and mentoring junior doctors.
Medical and specialist training in Dubai is regulated by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the Dubai Academic Healthcare Corporation (DAHC), established in 2021 to advance health services to integrate healthcare, medical education and scientific research.
Current postgraduate training opportunities in Dubai
Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) Dubai’s leading medical school is a key provider of reputable postgraduate training programs to cater for the rising need and demands of doctors in the region. MBRU are currently accepting admissions for 2 internship and 18 residency programmes across multiple specialties including but not limited to paediatrics, internal medicine, anaesthesia, radiology, general surgery, orthopaedics and trauma, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, and neurosurgery.
The DAHC currently offers 13 fellowship accredited programs in various subspecialties such as paediatric otolaryngology, paediatric orthopaedics and trauma, adult endocrine, child and adolescent psychiatry, and adult pulmonology. Specialist training programs are running across DAHC facilities, which include government sector hospitals such as Rashid Hospital, Dubai Hospital, Latifa Hospital, Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital and Dubai Dental Hospital.
All specialist training programmes are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME-I) and provide competency-based training through a well-structured curriculum that reinforces learning through research activities, soft skill development, and medical simulation supported by advanced learning resources.
To foster and promote opportunities for medical education, a growing number of private hospitals in Dubai now offer internships under the authority of the DHA. These include but are not limited to American Hospital, Saudi German Hospital, Mediclinic Middle East, Aster DM Healthcare, Medcare, and Fakeeh University Hospital.
The other emirates in the UAE also have their own training programme, regulated by the DOH in Abu Dhabi and Emirates Health Services in the northern emirates.
Looking towards the future
As the healthcare sector in Dubai continues to grow and develop, opportunities for medical education and specialist training will continue to expand. Where previously doctors in the region have gone abroad for training, Dubai is strengthening its local capacity for the benefit of its healthcare system and patient outcomes.
