DHA licence for Indian doctors: DHA exam or EMREE?

A simple decision flow

Start with what you want to do, not with the exam. This table is a guide to the documents, and it does not say which route is easier or faster, because no source we read says so.

What DHA asks of a doctor

The base title is General Practitioner (GEN5331): 150 questions in 3 hours, including registration time, and a 60 percent pass score. DHA lists twelve content areas and no weights. Specialist exams are mostly 150 questions at 55 to 70 percent depending on the title, and consultant exams are 100 questions at 70 percent. The pass mark for every title is on the page with all titles.

The PQR (April 2025) asks for an MBBS or equivalent from an accredited institution, a one-year internship after graduation, and for General Practitioner two years of clinical experience. If you have no evidence of an internship, it asks for two more years. For General Practitioner the degree must be at least five years excluding the internship. Surgical specialities need a logbook. DHA also asks for a valid registration, a good standing certificate not older than six months and primary source verification through DataFlow.

For specialist and consultant titles the PQR lists recognised specialty certificates by country and tier. In the PDF text, India appears with DM, DrNB, FNB and MCh in the Tier 2 column and DNB, MD and MS in the Tier 3 column. The columns are hard to read, so check the table yourself. For a non-UAE specialist, a Tier 3 qualification asks for three years of experience after the main specialty qualification, and for consultants the Tier 3 cell says "Cannot attain the title", with a footnote for people enrolled before June 2017.

Where EMREE fits

EMREE is the Emirates Medical Residency Entrance Examination, a pre-entry exam for doctors who want residency training in the UAE. It is run by the National Institute for Health Specialities (NIHS) through the UAE University portal, and it is not a licensing exam. The PQR separately lists passing EMREE as an exam equivalency for General Practitioner, which exempts the licensure exam only, not verification or experience.

The two exams have different organisers, formats, pass marks and purposes. The EMREE vs DHA page compares them side by side, and the EMREE guide has the organiser facts and what we could not confirm.

The National Medical Commission and your state council

We read these pages on 16 October 2026. The National Medical Commission (NMC) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Its Ethics and Medical Registration Board has the function to "Maintain National Registers of all licensed medical practitioners" and to work with State Medical Councils. NMC hosts an Indian Medical Register search of doctors registered with state councils, and it warns on that page that the data "is being updated" and that Karnataka, Arunachal and Delhi are excepted for 2021. It also lists the state medical councils.

The National Medical Register portal returned an access block to our scripted request, so we did not read it. We found no NMC page that explains a good standing certificate or a No Objection Certificate for use abroad, so we cannot say whether the NMC or your state medical council issues it. DHA's Licensing Manual says the same licensing authority that holds your registration must issue the certificate, so confirm on the council's site for the body that holds yours.

Protect yourself

Start from official portals only.