Prospects
of Homeopathy in UAE
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èGeneral
structure of MOH exam |
èEmployment
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èImportant
Information (Must
Read)
Homeopathy in UAE is getting stronger by each day, being born in 2001. It
is a good thing to say that it is healthy and very much active, from our first
hand experience. So far more than two hundred homeopaths are practicing in UAE.
About fifty homeopaths are there in Dubai itself. Abu Dhabi and Sharjah being
other major cities where many homeopaths can be found.
UAE Government approved practice of Homeopathy in the country in the beginning
of 2001. A separate section was established under UAE Ministry of Health
(MOH) for Complementary and Alternative Medicines (TCAM). To allow these
practitioners to work in UAE a
qualifying examination
(TCAM exam) is held by MOH about four/five times a year, and so far
more than 250 homeopaths have qualified to practice in UAE.
For practicing in UAE first one needs a
recognized qualification in homeopathy from their country of origin. Next they
should get a license from the Ministry of Health (MOH) through the TCAM exam.
The procedure for the same is described below. After getting the license one
should register for permission from the respective local governments
(municipalities) depending upon in which emirate of UAE (the country of UAE is
made up of seven emirates) you intent to practice and one will get this
permission only after getting the license from MOH. Remember that even after
getting the above two documents one can do the practice only under an existing
medical institution, obviously an allopathic one as there are no Homeopathic
institutions there yet. Because currently the system here is of poly-clinics
(means two, three or more doctors practicing under a single, OP only, medical
establishment). In most of them you can see a homeopathic physician also. The
big hospitals with IP facility has not yet started to employ homeopaths.
Please note that so far
there are no government job opportunities
in homeopathy in UAE, either in teaching or medical practice. In fact
at present there is no teaching institutions in homeopathy in UAE too and you
need to obtain a degree/diploma from your native country or an international
certifications from countries like UK. Also note that
no one can do any kind of medical practice in UAE without clearing
the MOH/DHA/DHCC/HAAD examination first. Another point is that currently TCAM
practitioners are allowed to practice only as part of a polyclinic or
independently. There is no provision for Homeopaths or any other TCAM
specialists to practice in a bedded hospital.
For starting a separate individual Homeopathic clinic one should get a permit
for starting/running a clinic which usually costs a hefty fee and also provided
only to those who gets a 'license to practice independently' by MOH. This is
awarded rarely only.
The current procedure is that after
procuring the license from MOH one goes on a job hunt by contacting various
poly-clinics asking whether they need a homeopath. Alternately one can also
check classifieds columns in news papers here which give the vacancies. Then
after one find out an establishment/sponsor they together work out the
remuneration and make a contract (work agreement). Then the establishment
approaches the local government for the above said permission and after getting
that permission from the health ministry apply to the labor department for the
labor card. Remember that all these time the person will be on a visit visa
unless he/she is under the sponsorship of the parents or spouse (which is a
non-employment resident visa). If the person is on visit visa, after procuring
the labor permission apply for an employment visa as a physician from the
immigration department. After procuring all these four documents (License from
MOH-UAE, Permission from Local Health Ministry, labor card and and employment
visa -if one is not already under a resident visa-) one start practicing here in
UAE. In other words one can start the practice only after procuring all these
four documents. The whole procedure takes about one month after one
getting the MOH license. Out of which only the MOH license is an examination and
all the others are just formalities.
Procedure of Exam Application including Syllabus
(for all
branches of TCAM)
The MOH examination
is of a simple structure but analyze in depth the capacity of the physicians.
As of now the requisite qualification to sit for the examination is
equivalent to BHMS from India (with the MOH
reserving the rights to alter it in case of experience and expertise otherwise).
The candidates should also need a minimum of two
years' practical experience
after the internship.
The TCAM exam consists of two parts. The first, a written examination (now
a days conducted online using computer terminals) for 100 marks is a mixture of
MCQ and short-answer questions. This is a common test for all the branches
of complimentary and alternative medicines like Homoeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani,
Acupuncture etc. This is based on General Medicine and the questions are
of good standard. Those who clear this examination will be called for an
interview, where a panel of experts (Allopathic doctors and experts of TCAM
specialty) will judge the capacity of the candidate as a physician. The
respective TCAM specialty knowledge (like Homeopathic) is assessed in this part.
The successful doctors will be given an evaluation certificate with register
numbers, which is the license to practice TCAM discipline in UAE. This is a one
time procedure like the qualifying examination and is valid life long provided
you continue to practice in UAE and procure enough CME credits every year.
As of now the examination is held in Dubai in
once every three months. Click here for the next
TCAM examination.
For help in preparing for the examination- note again that only portions from
General Medicine (Internal Medicine) will be asked for the written examination.
For this it is best to have a thorough knowledge in
Practice of Medicine based on Davidson’s and Harrison's textbook of
Internal Medicine. For familiarizing with the MCQ it is advisable to go to USMLE
(US Medical Licensing Examination) type of multiple choice questions from
various websites where a number of MCQs are given. The rank file from your
country's MD entrance examination is also a
good aid. But remember that your practical knowledge is what counts, especially
in the interview. Note that knowledge in your field of specialty
(Homeopathy/Ayurveda etc.) is tested only in the interview, if you first pass
the written exam. Overall the standard of the examination is in
between undergraduate and post graduate (for
Homeopathy between BHMS and MD) level of Indian Medical Syllabi.
Recently MOH has made some changes in the application procedure.
The registration should be done online at
https://smartforms.moh.gov.ae:444/Login.aspx (new users sign up by clicking
'Create
New Account'
link).
After logging on to your account upload soft copies of all the documents
including that of First aid/Basic Life Support course from MOH accredited
centres in UAE (for details please
click
here). Then pay the prescribed fee (presently AED 50 for written exam and
AED 50 for the interview) using a credit card. After this MOH will intimate you
about acceptance of your application and then you need to pay another fee for
Primary Source Verification of your credentials with Dataflow centre. This
whole procedure can
take up to two months time and so it will be better to start the application
procedure at least two months in advance of your preferred date of examination.
The candidates have to bear the travel and other expenses for the trip and also
make their own arrangements for their visa. Further clarification about all
these can also be had at the MOH website “www.moh.gov.ae”. Please note
that prior to applying for the exam one should get their qualification documents
endorsed by the UAE embassy in their country (for details see
documents needed).
Finally one word of caution too; the Ministry of Health has made the
examination procedure more strict and stringent
recently
and so if any of you plan for an appearance give it a thorough grind!
Even though the system of alternate medicine got official blessings in the
recent times, Homeopathy was never a stranger in the peninsula. Many people
there depend on Homeopathy for their treatment. While some of them bring
medicines from their home countries a few go to clandestine (qualified)
practitioners for this end.
As all major cities of UAE are cosmopolitan in nature one get people of all
walks and classes of life here. So there is never a shortage of
supporters to the system. It is reassuring to see that even the labor classes,
who can't miss even a day of their work, come to Homeopathy for their ailments.
Another pleasant surprise is the support by local/native population. One another
factor is that the common illnesses met with here like UTI, RTI, infertility,
Headache alopecia etc. are responding wonderfully to the simple medicines.
The unique climate and life style being the main culprit, the task of the
physician is made much easy.
Another welcoming thing is the number of patrons coming up to sponsor
Homeopathic clinics. All the major healthcare establishments have
a Homeopathic section also along with their institutions. The doctors who
already cleared by MOH and started their practice here sounded enthusiastic and
hopeful about the future. The large Indian population also sounded
relieved that at last they could get quality Homeopathic treatment nearby.
One minor obstacle yet to be overcome is the problem with dispensing medicines.
As of now no permission is given to dispense the medicines by the
physicians. Even if this is of vital importance to successful Homeopathic
practice the doctors here have to depend on sealed bottles of pre-medicated
pills of a fixed dose, which is to be dispensed as a whole to the patient.
The trouble with this is that often there won’t be the necessity of that much
doses of medicine and it will eventually lead to over dosage.
The other
points
being the heavy cost of these sealed bottle preparations, which jeopardizes the
very claim of cost effectiveness of the system
and the non availability of a number of essential drugs in the sealed form as
those are not yet approved by MOH.
We hope the problems will be solved as the system grows up. Once the
results start coming up the system will sustain itself as it has done in many
other countries and the obstacles will be melted away one by one.
Last,
but not the least- we would like to emphasis once again the point. No one can do
any kind of medical practice in UAE without a proper licence from the
MOH/DHA/DHCC/HAAD. To get this you need proper qualification and some prior
experience from your country of origin. Please do not forget it.
[Dr. Abdul Gafar, the then Editor-in-Chief of Homoeopathic Medical Panorama
had an extensive tour in UAE in May 2003. This
is brought in for the reference of all those who would like to sit for the MOH
examination as well as those who like to know further about homeopathy in UAE.
This
is the elaboration of an
original
article appeared with the same title in
Homoeopathic Medical Panorama- April-June 2003 issue]
Dr. Abdul Gafar cleared the MOH exam with first rank and has practiced
homeopathy in Dubai till 2007. Presently he is in India on a State Government
job and will return to UAE only after some time. We offer a package consisting
of guidelines and tutorials to candidates who wish to sit for TCAM (MOH)
examination of UAE under the guidance of Dr. Abdul Gafar.
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For
more details about coaching offered by Homeoweb for TCAM-MOH please contact
tcamcoaching@gmail.com.
Also
for any additional information about TCAM-MOH (other than given in our pages)
contact us at tcamcoaching@gmail.com.
Please read the full details about TCAM
and the employment opportunities before you send any mails.
(Please note that telephone consultation is strictly
reserved for our paying patrons only)