General Medical Council (GMC) of UK and DHA Health Regulation Department sign memorandum of understanding (MoU)

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, November 11, 2013: The Dubai Health Regulation Department and the General Medical Council (GMC), an independent medical regulator in the UK, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purpose of exchange of physician information between the two bodies.
 
The cooperation will  help protect patients. If any healthcare professional is blacklisted either in the UK or in Dubai, the two parties will share this information so that the professional cannot work in either of the countries. The cooperation also includes facilitating  and verifying certificates of good standing and/or certificates of current professional status for healthcare professionals in the two countries.

With the signing of this MoU, doctors who wish to practice medicine in either the UK or Dubai, can request for a good standing/current professional status certificate from their regulator and the regulator will provide this certification. This certificate helps medical professionals looking to apply for a job in either the UK or Dubai and thus the MoU will significantly benefit healthcare professionals in both countries.
 
General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent medical regulator in the UK responsible for 250,000 doctors and the DHA regulation department is the regulator for both healthcare facilities and medical professionals in the emirate and presently the department has licensed more than 21,000 healthcare professionals in the Emirate.

His Excellency Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, Director-General of Dubai Health Authority said: “Health regulation is an integral aspect of the healthcare sector as it aims to protect patients and facilitates constant updates in healthcare standards, which ensures delivery of quality medical care for the population. We are pleased to cooperate with GMC as they have a long-standing history in the field of health regulation.”

Niall Dickson, the Chief Executive and Registrar of the General Medical Council said: “Our aim is to promote patient safety and ensure high quality health and we recognize the importance of cooperating with other relevant authorities. This cooperation reaffirms our commitment to encourage greater international collaboration between medical regulators.”

Dickson visited the health regulation department and provided an overview of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities(IAMRA) conference in London. Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, Assistant Director of Health regulation provided an overview of the functioning of the department and invited the IAMRA to consider Dubai as a venue for the 2018 conference.