Medical Practitioner
When should I apply?
For medical practitioners there are four normal situations involving application for licence or authorisation:
Applicants with foreign qualifications It is a condition for applicants with foreign qualifications that such qualification be recognised as the professional equivalent of Norwegian qualifications. Applications should be sent to the Norwegian Registration Authority for Health Personnel. The applicant is required to attach a detailed overview of his/hers educational institutions, including a presentation of the tutorial programme. Theoretical classes the aplicant has followed should be listed by the number of hours, and conducted practice by the number of weeks/hours spent within each department. Remember to mention at what time the education was initiated and at what time it was finalised. Only when the foreign qualification has been approved can the applicant commence her/his "turnus". All other work experience prior to professional approval of the qualification is evaluated along the same lines as work experience accumulated during studies, and cannot be subtracted from the length of the turnus period. In order to verify the applicant's educational background and qualifications, SAFH cooperates with the American Educational Commition for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). A thourough verification of the educational background is a requirement in the authorisation procedure, implying medical practitioners educated in countries outside of the EU/EEA to transmit both their application for authorisation to SAFH and simultaneously obtain a verification of their medical diplomas from ECFMG. ECFMG will duly inform SAFH about the result of the verification. (Only medical practitioners applying for authorisation in Norway for the first time are obliged to follow this procedure. A medical practitioner having completed his/hers practical service (turnus) in Norway does not need a verification from ECFMG.) The applicant needs to complete a form, attach proper documentation and transmit these to the ECFMG. You will be charged a fee by the ECFMG.
General information about the ECFMG is available here: http://www.ecfmg.org If you wish to go directly to the "Applicant's Portal" on the ECFMG website, please refer to this link: http://www.ecfmg.org/applicant-portal.html
Applicants with foreign authorisation as medical practitioner Special regulations regarding recognition apply to applicants with foreign authorisation as medical practitioner. Norway has through the EEA accord and a special Nordic Agreement (currently not available in English) entered into agreements regarding mutual recognition of authorisation, licencing, and Certificates of Completion of Specialist Training. In such cases no assessment is made as to whether the foreign qualification is equivalent to the Norwegian qualification. Authorisation is granted in instances where the applicant can present the diploma or documentary confirmation referred to in Council Directive 2005/36/EC. No turnus will be required for this category of applicants. ESA has concluded that the Norwegian practice of Directive 2005/36 is inconsistent with the Directive. Norway can no longer set as a condition that medical graduates who have completed medical training from the EU /EEA countries where the practice is integrated in the medical training, must complete the norwegian internship.
Candidates who still have to go through the norwegian internship for medical practitioners Applicants with medical training from the EU / EEA countries where the required practical training / internship is set after graduation, must complete the internship for medical practitioners before authorization can be obtained in Norway, if not full rights as a medical practitioner is acheived in the country given the education. Candidates with qualifications from EU / EEA countries where the required practical training / internship is set after graduation: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom. Candidates with qualifications from EU / EEA countries not listed above, may apply for direct authorization without having completed the internship for Medical Practitioners in Norway. The candidates who choose to apply for authorization must submit an application to SAFH. If you after reading this information wish to apply to SAFH for authorization without doing the internship, SAFH encourages you to do so within 15.06.2011, so that we can offer your place of internship to another candidate. In addition to filing a regular application for authorization, we ask that you report to postmottak@safh.no that you wish to withdraw from the internship in Norway.
Approval of Specialist Training
As of 1 October 2011 applications for Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training must be submitted to the Norwegian Directorate of Health. The Norwegian Medical Association will from 1 October 2011 no longer be in charge of the approval of specialist training in Norway. This also applies to approval of specialist training obtained within EEA or other countries. |