| 26 Feb 2010 |
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SCH's online tests for medicos by March-end
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DOHA: The Supreme Council of Health (SCH)Supreme Council of Health (SCH)
will soon invite applications from prospective candidates, as it is going to launch the online competency tests for healthcare practitioners in the last week of March. The SCHSCH recently signed a long-term agreement with Prometric, a leading international provider of technology-enabled testing and assessment services, to conduct the exams globally.
All healthcare practitioners seeking a licence to practise in the country will now be able to take the mandatory tests online and even outside the country, since they are being made available at the nearly 10,000 testing centres of Prometric spread over 164 countries.
"We are expecting to launch the examinations in the last week of March as originally scheduled. Already there is a waiting list of candidates. We will soon invite applications from all healthcare professionals wishing to practise in the country so that we can have a better idea about the number of potential examinees in the initial days," Dr Jamal Rashid Al Khanji, Acting Director of the Medical Licensing Department at SCHSCH told the media yesterday.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a workshop for health care practitioners as well as employers held at the SCHSCH premises to familiarize them on the new exam system.
Mohammad Shadid, Regional Development Manager, Prometric gave a presentation on the tests. David Grinham, vice president and general manager, Europe and Middle East of Prometric and Ahmed S A Salmi, regional manager of the MENA region were also present at the workshop, along with Al Khanji and Craig Smith, registration manager at the Medical Licensing Department.
The online tests will be available for six categories in the initial phase- physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technicians and mid-wives.
"Currently the tests for physicians are mandatory for general practitioners. However, we have a plan to introduce tests for specialists at a later stage," added Al Khanji.
The two-hour tests were specially designed for Qatar by Prometric, in line with the SCHSCH requirements.
A Prometric testing center is currently getting ready in Doha. Initially, the center will have a capacity to accommodate six examinees at one time and test an average 30 candidates on a day, said Shadid.
Each applicant will get a special number from SCHSCH, if they are found eligible to appear for the examinations.
licence. However, they will have to meet the eligibility criteria and fulfill other requirements to secure a licence. "The testing centers will be equipped with cameras observing and recording every movement of the examinees. Anyone who is found to be cheating in the examinations will be blacklisted in all the GCC countries," said Shadid.
The candidate will get a certificate after the tests, but it will not be considered as an authentic document. The Prometric centers will transfer the results directly to the Supreme Council of HealthSupreme Council of Health in a very safe and confidential manner, he added.
© The Peninsula 2010
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