CME Credits in the UAE and KSA: What You Actually Need as an Aesthetic Practitioner

The most common question physicians ask us during a sales call is not about course content -- it is about CME. Specifically: will the hours from this masterclass count toward my license renewal? This guide explains the four licensing bodies that cover almost every aesthetic physician working in the Gulf, the minimum CME each one requires, and the practical checklist for confirming that a given course will actually credit toward your renewal.

The four bodies you need to know

• DHA -- Dubai Health Authority. Licenses physicians practising in Dubai. Operates the e-CME platform sheryan.dha.gov.ae .
• DOH-AD -- Department of Health, Abu Dhabi. Licenses physicians practising in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. CME tracked via the DOH portal.
• MOHAP -- Ministry of Health and Prevention. Covers Northern Emirates (Sharjah, Ajman, RAK, UAQ, Fujairah). Uses its own CME validation flow.
• SCFHS -- Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. Licenses every physician in KSA. Tracks Professional Classification and Registration via the Mumaris+ platform.

If you work cross-border (and many GCC aesthetic physicians do -- Dubai weekdays, Riyadh weekends), you must keep separate CME records with each authority you hold a license under. Hours earned for DHA do not automatically transfer to SCFHS, and vice versa, unless the course was jointly accredited at the time it was delivered.

Minimum CME requirements at a glance

Numbers below are the requirements at the date of writing (2026). Always confirm with the relevant authority before planning your CME year -- the volumes are adjusted from time to time.

• DHA: 40 CME hours per year for general practitioners, including a defined proportion in your scope (aesthetic medicine, when listed on your license).
• DOH-AD: typically 50 CME hours per year, with category-specific minimums.
• MOHAP: 40 CME hours per year, of which at least half must be Category 1 (formally accredited live activities).
• SCFHS: credit hours vary by professional rank, but the baseline for general practitioners is 30 hours per year, accumulated across a 2-year licensing cycle.

Most GCC aesthetic physicians find that two full masterclasses per year (~24--32 hours total of live teaching) plus regular webinar and journal-club credits will meet their renewal baseline. The harder question is which masterclass actually counts.

Category 1 vs Category 2 -- why the distinction matters

Most authorities split CME into "Category 1" (formal live or accredited online activities with assessment) and "Category 2" (self-directed learning, reading, case review). Most licenses require at least 50% of total hours in Category 1. A two-day hands-on aesthetic masterclass is almost always Category 1; a recorded webinar without assessment is almost always Category 2. If you are trying to close a Category 1 gap before renewal, a recorded course will not save you -- you need to physically attend a graded live event.

How a course actually becomes accredited

Course providers apply, ahead of the event, to the licensing body. The body reviews the learning objectives, faculty credentials, assessment plan and venue. If approved, the course is issued a unique accreditation number for that specific running. Two things follow from this:

• Accreditation is per-running, not per-academy. A course series can be accredited in March and unaccredited in October if the provider did not file the paperwork for the second run.
• The accreditation belongs to the issuing authority, not to a generic logo. A course accredited for DHA is not automatically accredited for SCFHS.

The verification checklist -- 5 minutes before you pay

1. Ask the academy for the accreditation certificate. Not a logo on the website -- the actual PDF from the issuing body, dated for the specific running of the course you plan to attend.
2. Note the accreditation number printed on the certificate.
3. Cross-check on the licensing body's portal. DHA, DOH-AD and MOHAP all offer public search by accreditation number or provider name.
4. Confirm the credit hours listed. A "3-day course" might be advertised as 30 CME hours but accredited for only 12. The certificate is the truth, the brochure is marketing.
5. Confirm the category. Hours need to be Category 1 to count toward your live-event minimum.

What "CME accredited internationally" usually means

Many academies in the region advertise "internationally CME-accredited" status. In practice this almost always refers to one of: a) recognition by a continental European body such as EACCME (European Accreditation Council for CME), which carries weight in EU member states but is not directly recognised by DHA or SCFHS; b) recognition by a non-government professional society, which is valuable for your CV but does not generate licensing hours in the UAE or KSA. The two are not the same as government accreditation, and a course can have one without the other.

Our recommendation: pick courses that hold both. The European recognition signals teaching quality; the local government accreditation signals that the hours will count when your license is due for renewal. If you can only have one, pick the local accreditation -- it is the one your licensing portal cares about.

The dentist and nurse scope question

Dentists practising aesthetic injectables in the UAE need specific scope approval on their license -- the default dental license does not include facial injectables outside the perioral region. KSA is similar: SCFHS treats aesthetic injectables as a distinct scope that must be requested in writing, backed by a documented training portfolio. The same applies to nurse specialists who perform injectables under physician supervision. If you fall into either category, the CME hours from a masterclass are necessary but not sufficient -- you also need the scope endorsement on your license before you inject commercially.

Where OXY courses sit in this system

We design every masterclass with documented learning objectives, graded hands-on assessment, and faculty whose credentials are accepted by DHA, DOH-AD and SCFHS. We file the accreditation applications ahead of each cohort and provide every delegate with the issued accreditation certificate at the end of the course -- the same PDF you can upload directly to your Sheryan, DOH or Mumaris+ portal.

If you have a specific renewal deadline and want to know which of our upcoming cohorts will close your gap fastest, send your license details to info@oxy-markt.com -- we will check the math against your portal's requirement and suggest the right cohort. For the structured comparison of how to evaluate an aesthetic course beyond CME, see Choosing Your First Dermal-Filler Course.

This article reflects the regulatory landscape at the date of writing. Always verify CME requirements directly with the relevant authority before planning your cycle. Nothing in this guide constitutes legal advice, and the GCC regulatory bodies update their requirements periodically -- the responsibility for confirming current rules lies with each licensed physician.