The Department of Healthcare Professions (DHP) under the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) issued Circular No. DHP/2025/24 on 30 December 2025.
This circular updates Qatar’s healthcare licensing framework and replaces all previous circulars issued on the same subject, including Circular 13/2023.
From this date onward, all healthcare licensing decisions related to experience, internship, and qualifying exams must follow this circular only.
For healthcare professionals, this update is important because it clearly defines who must complete an internship, who needs work experience, and who is exempt from the DHP qualifying exam.
We at Meem Business Services see many applications are delayed simply because these rules are misunderstood or applied incorrectly.
Key Takeaways
- Circular DHP/2025/24 was issued on 30 December 2025 and updates Qatar’s healthcare licensing rules for internship, experience, and qualifying exams.
- The circular replaces and annuls previous circulars on the same subject, including Circular 13/2023, and must now be followed for all related licensing decisions.
- The DHP qualifying exam is generally required unless the applicant qualifies for an exemption under Circular DHP/2025/24 or meets a profession-specific recognised-exam exemption under Circular DHP/2025/19.
- Under Circular DHP/2025/24, category-based exam exemption applies to Qatari nationals, offspring of Qatari women, and graduates of public or private universities and higher education institutions inside Qatar. Circular DHP/2025/19 separately recognises specified foreign qualifying examinations for certain professions when the exam remains valid and the required verification is completed.
- For graduates from universities inside Qatar, general practitioners must complete a mandatory internship year, while dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health professionals are exempt from post-qualification experience requirements.
- For graduates from universities outside Qatar, physicians and dentists must complete an internship year or one year of licensed clinical experience, while pharmacy, nursing, and allied health professionals generally require one year of work experience.
- Spouses of residents have additional experience requirements depending on profession, including one year of experience after internship in certain categories.
- Where permitted, required experience may be completed inside Qatar only in a licensed healthcare facility under DHP-approved supervision and with prior approval.
- Meem Business Services supports healthcare professionals with eligibility assessment, internship and experience mapping, DataFlow and QuadraBay verification, and end-to-end DHP licensing support.
Who This Circular Applies To
This circular applies to all healthcare practitioners and healthcare facilities in the State of Qatar. It covers applicants who studied inside Qatar as well as those who obtained their qualifications outside Qatar.
It also applies to family-sponsored applicants, including spouses and offspring of residents, where specific experience conditions are defined.
The professions covered under this circular include physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, and all allied health professionals.
Did you know Qatar adds 3 new allied health scopes. read the guide to know more.
Understanding the DHP Qualifying Exam Exemption
In Qatar, passing the DHP qualifying exam is the standard requirement for healthcare licensing. However, the circular clearly identifies a limited group of applicants who are exempt.
Under Circular DHP/2025/24, you are exempt from the DHP qualifying exam if you fall into one of the following categories:
- You are a Qatari national
- You are an offspring of a Qatari woman
- You graduated from a public university, private university, or higher education institution within the State of Qatar
This DHP/2025/24 category exemption applies across healthcare professions covered by the circular. Separately, Circular DHP/2025/19 lists profession-specific recognised qualifying exams that may exempt an applicant from the Qatar qualifying exam when the listed exam is valid and verified. The accepted exam differs by profession, so applicants should check the current DHP list for their exact category.
Overseas graduates should not assume they are either automatically exempt or automatically required to sit the Qatar exam. In addition to the category exemptions above, DHP/2025/19 recognises specified exams for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and certain allied-health categories when the profession-specific conditions, validity period and verification requirements are met.
Primary Source Verification may be required through an approved DHP verification provider as part of the applicable licensing route. Applicants should follow the provider and verification requirements shown for their current DHP process rather than assuming one provider applies to every case.
For Good Standing and PSV document guidance, see our current DataFlow Good Standing in Qatar guide.
Experience Rules for Graduates from Universities Inside Qatar
For applicants who completed their education in Qatar, experience requirements depend on the profession.
General Practitioners (Medicine)
Graduates applying as general practitioners must complete one full year of internship. This internship must be completed after obtaining the medical degree and is required for practice in both public and private healthcare sectors.
Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health
Graduates in dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health professions are exempt from post-qualification work experience requirements. They are eligible to apply for licensing in public and private sectors once they meet standard licensing conditions.
Psychology Graduates
The circular also clarifies specific pathways for psychology graduates, which are often misunderstood.
If you obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from a Qatar-based institution and completed two years of work as an Assistant Psychologist, then later obtained a master’s degree in psychology, you may be eligible for licensure as a Clinical Psychologist or Psychological Counsellor.
Alternatively, if you obtained both your bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Qatar and completed one year of work as an Assistant Psychologist after the master’s degree, you may also be eligible for licensure in these scopes.
Incorrect documentation of these pathways is a common reason for rejection.
Experience Rules for Graduates from Universities Outside Qatar
For overseas graduates, the experience requirements are more detailed and depend on both profession and residency category.
Physicians and Dentists
The table below summarises the requirements clearly.
| Applicant Category | Internship Required | Additional Experience |
|---|---|---|
| Qatari nationals | Yes | Not required |
| Offspring of Qatari women | Yes | Not required |
| Offspring of residents | Yes | Not required |
| Spouses of residents’ offspring | Yes | Not required |
| Spouses of residents | Yes | One additional year |
The minimum academic duration must be six years for medicine and five years for dentistry, excluding the internship year.
If internship proof is not available, one year of licensed clinical experience may be accepted instead.
Some eligible categories may complete their required experience inside Qatar under DHP-approved supervision. This must be formally approved before starting. Experience started without approval is often rejected.
Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health (Outside Qatar)
For these professions, experience requirements depend on residency status.
| Applicant Category | Experience Requirement |
|---|---|
| Qataris | No experience required |
| Offspring of Qatari women | No experience required |
| Offspring of residents | One year required |
| Spouses of residents | One year required |
If experience is completed inside Qatar, it must be approved by DHP in advance and completed under supervision in a licensed healthcare facility.
Nursing-Specific Condition
For nurses, the one-year experience must meet all of the following conditions:
- It must be direct clinical nursing experience
- It must be completed in a recognised healthcare facility
- It must start only after DHP approval
- It must be completed under a valid professional license
If any of these conditions are missing, the experience may not be recognised. Meem covers this in detail in its guide on Break from Practice for Nurses in Qatar.
Internship Year Clarifications
The circular clearly states that the internship year is counted only after obtaining the bachelor’s degree. The minimum academic duration does not include the internship year.
If an applicant did not complete an internship, one year of licensed clinical experience is required instead.
What This Update Means in Practice
This circular removes ambiguity but requires accuracy.
From Meem’s licensing cases, most delays occur because experience was completed without prior DHP approval, internship or experience was mapped to the wrong category, or exam exemption was assumed incorrectly.
Applicants often discover these issues only after submission, which extends processing time. Meem’s article on DHP Processing Time in Qatar explains how such errors affect evaluation timelines.
How Meem Supports Healthcare Professionals
Understanding the circular is only the first step. Applying it correctly to your nationality, qualification country, family residency status, internship history, and experience location is where most applicants face difficulty.
Meem Business Services supports healthcare professionals with eligibility assessment, experience and internship mapping, DataFlow coordination, Quadrabay verification and complete DHP licensing support.
If you want clarity before submitting your application, reviewing your profile against the applicable DHP circulars can help identify avoidable eligibility, documentation and exam-route issues before submission.
