Licensing examinations for doctors graduated outside the European Economic Area

Dear Sir

Finland as well as other countries in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) receive doctors who have taken their medical degree outside the area. In Britain and the Nordic countries, there is a special licensing process for the applicants; they are required a language test and professional tests including theory and practice. In some other European countries, special university programmes are available. There are also countries where no tests are required.

The licensing process of the non-EU/EEA doctors in Finland includes testing language abilities (Finnish/Swedish), two written medical knowledge examinations, and a clinical skills assessment. The examinations are conducted by the Department of General Practice at the University of Tampere, and the present examination system has been in use since 1994. After passing the three-part examination, the applicant can obtain a licence to practise medicine in Finland. Valvira – National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (2011) decides about the issue of licences.

There were 746 doctors in all who participated in the examinations arranged by the University of Tampere during 1994–2009 (Haukilahti et al. 2010). The participants represented 65 nationalities, and about half of them were Russian. There were 161 universities in which they had taken their degrees, most often in the universities of St. Petersburg, Tartu, Petrozavodsk, and Moscow. Almost three-fifths of the participants were women. The proportions of different nationalities have changed during 15 years.

The Finnish licensing process is equal for all participants. Experienced general practitioners act as evaluators. The purpose is to make responsible assessments of the competencies of the doctors, also taking into account the possibility that some of them may continue to other EEA countries.

At present, there is no uniform licensing process for non-EEA doctors in Europe. It seems that information is needed about the different systems. Do they guarantee that the licensed doctors are of a good European standard?