Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DOH): CME credits, licensing and professional standards

The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi is the health regulator for the whole Emirate of Abu Dhabi: the capital, Al Ain and Al Dhafra. Its powers come from Abu Dhabi Law No. 10 of 2018, and its day-to-day licensing rules are set out in the Licensing Procedural Manual (LPM-01, April 2024), which DOH sent to the sector with circular 151/2024.

How a DOH licence works

• One portal: every licensing step runs through TAMM, Abu Dhabi's government services platform. The LPM's first instruction is to "Create an account on 'TAMM' portal through UAE PASS". The TAMM hotline is 800 555.
• Shared qualification rules: the DOH applies the national Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements (PQR). It hosts the 3rd version on its PQR page and told all professionals in circular 239/2025 (27 November 2025) that the updated PQR had been published.
• Exams: computer-based tests are delivered by Pearson VUE and oral exams are run by the DOH itself. A pass is "valid for 5 years". Under the PQR you have three attempts across the authorities, plus one final attempt with a different authority.
• Licence term: two years. Your CME clock runs over the same two years.

The LPM makes renewal depend on CME "obtained within the recent 2 years (since last renewal date or initial license issuance date)". The amounts per cycle are:

The last two columns apply the 50% rule in the DOH Standard for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Healthcare Workforce (DOH/ST/HCWS/CPD/V1/2024, effective July 2024) to each total.

How a credit is counted

The Standard defines the unit precisely: "One hour of CPD engagement is equivalent to 1 CPD credit"; 30 minutes is 0.5 credit, and "the smallest reported CPD is 15 minutes", worth 0.25 credit. So a half-day accredited workshop of three and a half hours is 3.5 credits, not 4.

Spread it across both years

Section 4.4 of the Standard asks the workforce to "Pursue CPD by obtaining the required quota of CPD credits during every year of professional practice in Abu Dhabi". The renewal check looks at the full cycle, but the wording is a clear signal that the DOH expects steady learning rather than a rush in the final months. You must also keep a portfolio of your CPD with evidence of every activity (4.4.5), available for audit and inspection.

Dubai counts CPD points per year of licence and MOHAP lists hours per renewal service. The UAE CPD requirements guide compares all of them.

The DOH splits every activity into one of two categories, and at least half of each licensing cycle's total must come from the first.

Some non-formal activities have their own ceilings: the Standard caps credits from publications and from observership at 20 each, and from peer review at 10.

For a formal activity to count, section 3.1.1.1 of the Standard says it must carry DOH accreditation, accreditation from a national accreditation body, or accreditation "to a relevant international standard" from an international accreditation organisation the DOH has approved, and the accreditor "must be recognized in the country of incorporation by a governmental or non-governmental higher quality-assurance authority".

The DOH CME/CPD Provider and Activity Quality Assurance Manual (section 9.2) names the accreditors it recognises:

• ACCME, ACPE, AMA-PRA and ANCC (United States)
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and College of Family Physicians of Canada
• MOHAP and the Dubai Health Authority in the UAE
• OMSB (Oman) and SCFHS (Saudi Arabia)

Companies whose primary business is producing, marketing or selling healthcare products cannot be CPD providers (section 1.2.1).

Is online CME allowed?

Yes. The Standard lists e-learning, "synchronous or asynchronous", as an accepted delivery mode beside on-campus and blended learning, and it sets no cap on online credits. The accreditation test above still applies to the formal half, whatever the format. Gap-of-practice CME is the exception (see below).

Certificates for programmes the DOH has approved

For events the DOH has approved, participation certificates can be requested "after 1 day and up to 60 days" from the event. Questions go to the DOH medical education team at mead@doh.gov.ae.

• Late renewal: the LPM charges a penalty for each month after expiry, for up to six months: AED 625 a month for physicians and dentists, AED 75 for pharmacists and AED 50 for nurses and allied health professionals.
• Long lapses: a licence that has been expired or cancelled for more than five years needs a new registration, not a renewal.
• Suspended licences: the LPM states that "Healthcare professional with suspended licenses cannot apply for renewal."
• Good standing certificate: available once you have held an active DOH licence for at least three months. It states any past or current suspension, revocation, investigation or warning, so the record follows you to your next authority. Under the PQR, the certificate must be no older than six months when you apply elsewhere.

Fees, timings and document lists are updated through TAMM and DOH circulars, which are the authority for your own renewal.

Abu Dhabi has its own route for professionals who have been away from clinical work, and its threshold differs from the national rule.

The PQR is the newer national document, but the DOH page still shows the two-year threshold. If your gap is between two and three years, ask the DOH which rule it will apply to your application.

What the DOH adds

• Training takes place in an Approved Practice Setting at intermediate level; the DOH publishes an updated list (January 2026).
• The CME must fall within the past two years, and 50% must be Category 1 activity attended in person and carrying DOH, DHA or MOH (now MOHAP) accreditation. Online learning cannot make up that half.
• The gap-of-practice completion certificate is "valid for 1 year", and a DOH exam follows the training.
• Under the PQR, non-UAE nationals cannot apply with a gap of more than five years.

The DOH has not issued a single code of ethics of its own. Professional conduct in Abu Dhabi rests on federal law, the national Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct issued by MOHAP in 2017, and a set of DOH policies and standards. The ones individual professionals meet most often:

• Healthcare Workforce Bioethics Guidelines (August 2024): developed with MOHAP and the SHA and building on the 2017 national Code. Topics include community well-being, women's health, mental healthcare, organ donation and transplant, medical tourism, clinical research, innovative medicines, AI, genomics and emergency preparedness.
• Policy on Integrity and Benefit Disclosure (DOH/Policy/IBD/1, September 2022): built on transparency and accountability, serving the public interest and integrity. Professionals must "Guard against situations where there may be appearance of a potential conflict of interest", must not use their professional status to promote commercial products, and sign conflict-of-interest declarations; facilities collect them every year.
• Patient Consent Standard (DOH/ST/PC/HFS/V1/2024, effective February 2025): recognises general, implied and informed consent and lists the procedures that need written consent, from surgery and endoscopy to telemedicine, genetic testing, data sharing and research. Its order for substitute consent starts with the father, which differs from Dubai, where the spouse comes first.
• ADHICS V2 (effective August 2024): the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Information and Cyber Security Standard. It requires unique user IDs, strong passwords, no entity data on personal devices, clear desks and screens, and reporting of suspected breaches. Patient records are shared through Malaffi, the Abu Dhabi health information exchange, where emergency "break the seal" access must be justified in writing.
• Circular 26/2023: facilities must train staff on the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Guidelines for Health Media and Advertising, and trained representatives log advertisements on DOH systems before use.
• Incident Reporting and Management Standard V2 (effective December 2024): sentinel events are notified to the DOH within 48 hours.
• Child Protection Policy (June 2026): the newest of the set, including annual training for at least 85% of staff who have contact with children.

Insurance claims in Abu Dhabi are governed by the DOH standard on recovery of payment (HSFR V2, December 2023), which defines fraud as "an intentional act of deception" to obtain a benefit under the health insurance scheme.

This page covers licensing, CME and standards. If a patient has asked the DOH to investigate a medical error, or the DOH has opened a case about your practice, the DOH complaints and remediation page explains the process and the courses that match each concern.

Each Healthcare Practise course page lists the Abu Dhabi standard it supports in its "Relevant to" box. The closest matches for DOH-licensed professionals:

For a broad grounding in the bioethics themes the DOH has set out, start with the Healthcare Ethics Course or the ethics course for your profession.