Doctors who are considering work in the Saudi Arabian medical sector must satisfy the requirements for professional registration and a licence to practise as a physician in the chosen speciality at the appropriate level. Saudi Arabia has a single medical regulatory authority, the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, which reviews physician credentials and grants licences to practice medicine in the Kingdom.

However, it must be stressed that a successful application for a professional licence may not automatically guarantee eligibility for a job in the same speciality and at the same level, because each hospital and healthcare facility has its own unique privileging process which determines the doctor's right to receive privileges to practise his or her speciality in that particular environment.

In the public medical sector, the King Faisal Specialist Hospitals and military hospitals have the most stringent privileging requirements, matched only by some of the larger private sector hospitals. 

Here is an overview of both procedures: credentialing and privileging.

1: CREDENTIALING: Qualifications and Experience Required to Obtain a Consultant Physician Licence in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties is responsible for the assessment of applications for registration as a physician and for maintaining a register of practising physicians. The process of registration is described in detail in our article titled Registration of Medical Professionals in Saudi Arabia and candidates who are required to take a prometric examination, can review our guide Saudi Commission for Health Specialties Prometric Exam.

The Medical Credentials required for a consultant licence are as follows:

1. medical degree from a medical school approved by the World Health Organisation's World Directory of Medical Schools.
2. pre - specialist training of at least one year - different job titles are used for this stage of a medical career but the usual ones are "junior house officer", "intern" or foundation year one (FY1)
3. specialist training in a structured program in a recognised speciality at a basic, intermediate and advanced level
4. specialist qualification - board certification or fellowship in the primary speciality and / or secondary speciality

Recognised specialist qualifications for consultant licences

The preferred qualifications are:

UK - Membership / Fellowship of a Medical Royal College and the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCST) or the Certificate of Equivalent Specialist Training (CESR)

USA - American Board Certification

Canada - Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

Australia and New Zealand - Fellowship of Medical Royal College

South Africa - Fellowship of the College of Medicine of South Africa and / or MMed

German, Austria, Switzerland - Facharzt

France - DES / DESC

Spain - Spanish Board Certification

Italy - Italian Board Certification

Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland - State Board Certification

Netherlands - Dutch Board Certification

Primary source verification of qualifications, medical licence and certificates of employment must be obtained from the DataFlow company before applying for a licence. Our guide to obtaining a DataFlow Report details the procedures.

2: PRIVILEGING: Qualifications and Experience Required to Obtain Hospital Privileges and Employment 

Unlike the credentialing process which is undertaken by a single national regulatory authority, physician privilege assessment is undertaken by individual healthcare facilities for the purpose of verifying and integrating the training and experience of the healthcare practitioner with the scope of services offered by the facility.

The requirements and expectations of hospitals vary considerably and applicants should always check the job adverts and job descriptions (where available) for details of the specific qualifications, experience and scope of practice the hospital seeks for each role.

Hospitals can restrict privileges and employment opportunities to doctors who hold specific qualifications, have a minimum duration of experience in their speciality in independent practice post specialist board and have performed a minimum number of procedures. In assessing candidate's applications for employment, healthcare facilities may request sight of surgical log books or ask candidates to complete detailed forms about procedural competency.

The major public and private sector hospitals will generally expect:

1. Qualifications: undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications as listed above
2. Experience: post specialist board certification experience as an attending physician or consultant of 2-3 years duration
3. Procedural competency: evidence of competence in each  procedure relevant to scope of practice
4. Language proficiency: English proficiency is essential although not usually formally tested. Arabic proficiency is essential for some positions, particularly in psychiatry, family medicine, geriatrics and internal medicine, and desirable for all.

Candidates for medical jobs in Saudi Arabia may find themselves in the situation where they are granted a licence to practice as a consultant in the country but do not meet the privileging requirements of the hospital where they wish to work due to the hospital refusing to accept qualifications from some countries or demanding more post specialisation experience, or not employing non Arabic speakers in certain roles.

Do you need help with applying for medical jobs in Saudi Arabia?

If you are uncertain about meeting the credentialing criteria for a medical licence or the privileging criteria for a job, please contact us and our expert recruiters will be delighted to advise and assist you.

You can browse advertised jobs in Saudi Arabia and apply for them on line with your curriculum vitae (CV) and also register your CV and sign up for job alerts.

Read more about working in Saudi Arabia in our locations and news and insights sections of this website.

If you are interested to read about the experiences, tips and insights of others who have made the move to Saudi Arabia or other countries in the Middle East, read our case studies. 

From time to time, we have some events about working in Saudi Arabia so check out our events page for details.