Under Turkish law, foreign specialists and consultants are not entitled to practice the profession of a medical doctor in Turkey until after the equivalency certificate of medical specialization is obtained. Turkey has allowed this procedure for some time due to its need to increase the number of doctors, and it will be necessary to conduct an equivalency test and submit some papers and documents at the Ministry of Higher Education in the capital, Ankara.
This article will tell you how to equivalent the certificate of medical specialization in Turkey.
Steps for equivalency of the medical Doctor in Turkey specialty certificate:
The first step for equivalency of the medical specialty certificate:
- First, an equivalency test called “STS” is required to equalize the Bachelor Human Medicine degree that the doctor obtained from the university of his country,
This test is conducted in Ankara twice a year in the months of (April) and (September).
The test consists of 100 questions in different departments of medicine, and the passing score is 40.
Documents required for the equivalency of the Medical Doctor in Turkey certificate:
- A high school certificate, provided that there is a statement of the grades of the study subjects and that the certificate is certified by the foreign ministry in your country, and translated into Turkish.
Then it is submitted to its equation (verification of its validity) at the headquarters of the Ministry of Higher Education in Istanbul (located between Sultanahmet and Çambarlitas stations),
And that is before submitting the complete papers at the Ministry of Higher Education in Ankara.
- Bachelor’s degree in human medicine documented by the foreign ministry in your country.
- A detailed certificate of the academic content you studied during the years of study from your university.
- a copy of the passport
- An initial or fictitious work contract in a private hospital, which is a fictitious contract that is not binding on both parties, and there are service offices to complete this procedure for a fee ranging between (300-500) Turkish liras.
- The application fee for the “STS” exam is ($50) which is paid at the Ministry of Higher Education in Ankara.
All these papers need to be translated into Turkish and documented with Noter and submitted to the Ministry of Higher Education in Ankara to verify their authenticity. It takes about 8 months, and you can apply for the STS equivalency test during this period.
There are several certificates that are exempted from the STS equivalency test for the Medical Doctor in Turkey:
- USMLE-STEP 3 (American formula)
- PLAB-Part 2 (British Formula)
- AMC-Clinical Examinations (Australian Formula)
- MCCQE-Part 2 (Canadian Equation)
- Arztliche Prüfungen (3 AP, Staats Examen) (German formula)
And also holders of a British fellowship with training here:1) (CCT = Certificate of Completion of Training) from (British General Medical Council).
2) GMC reference number British Medical Council registration number.
The second step for the equivalency of the medical specialty certificate:
After passing the “STS” equivalency test, the doctor can practice the profession as a general practitioner, coinciding with the procedures for the equivalence of the specialty obtained from his country, in the Turkish Ministry of Higher Education located in Ankara, the capital of the Turkish Republic.
Documents required for the equivalency of the Medical Doctor in Turkey certificate from Ankara:
- A certified copy of the passport, translated into Turkish.
- Certificate of medical specialization, translated into Turkish.
- Document of the period in which the doctor worked in his specialty.
- A document of the training license of the institution or hospital in which he worked.
After submitting the papers, their validity will be verified, and it also takes about a year (during which one can practice the profession as a general practitioner),
After that, it will be determined if the doctor can practice the specialty directly or if he needs training under the supervision of a professor, and the training period is estimated at about (3 months), after which a final oral exam is performed.
Then the doctor can work in his specialty in public or private sector hospitals according to the annual contract system with the Turkish Ministry of Health based on the law issued on (23 June 2016) and the specialist doctor’s salary ranges between (3000 – 5000 dollars) depending on the medical specialty and the hospital in which he works.
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