Three Qatari Dentists Become First in the Country to Complete Royal College of
Surgeons in Ireland Fellowship Examination via Video Conference
Doha, 24 April, 2020: Early this month, three Qatari dentists from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) completed the final examination for their international post-graduate pediatric dental fellowship. The specialist pediatric Dentistry Fellowship (FFD) is offered through the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the three newest fellows have the distinction of being the first in the country to have completed the exam through video conference, a change that was necessitated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Ghanem Al Mannai, Chairman of Dental Service at HMC, said HMC and RCSI have collaborated for several years on the specialized fellowship program, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East. He said the program allows Qatari dentists to further their education and advance their pediatric dental qualifications. Dr. Al Mannai congratulated the doctors on receiving the fellowship and thanked Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Department of Medical Education for the ongoing support of his Department.
Dr. Khalifa Ali Al Ansari, Senior Consultant and Vice Chairman of Education, Hamad Dental Center, said the MFD Postgraduate Dental Education Program allows Qatar-based dentists to receive specialized training in Qatar, permitting them to obtain accreditation from a well-known international institution without the need to travel abroad.
“The Hamad Dental Center, in partnership with RCSI, is proud to provide this opportunity to Qatar-based dentists. Each year we organize an intensive training course to help prepare dentists from the public and private sectors to pass the admittance tests for membership into the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (MFD and FFD examinations). These intensive programs spans three years and the dentists who have enrolled in the preparatory workshops we provide have achieved a high level of success. To date many of the participants have joined the specialized pediatric dentistry fellowship program offered in cooperation with the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland,” said Dr. Al Ansari.
Dr. Jamal Al Abdullah, Chief of Pedodontics and Head of the Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program at HMC, said to date eleven Qatari dentists in the country have completed the Irish Fellowship Diploma examination. He said each year a number of Qatari dentists are accepted into the program and in the coming years there are plans to extend enrolment to the children of long-term residents and international students.
“We have agreed to partner with Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar and Sidra Medicine to encourage post-graduate dentistry students to continue their studies as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen our resources in this field and to support these professionals in passing the RCSI examinations,” said Dr. Abdullah.
“Our rigorous preparatory workshops are on par with the best in the world. Dentists who complete the Fellowship program in Qatar must meet the same test requirements as dentists who complete the program in Ireland,” added Dr. Abdullah.
