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A plastic surgeon working in Dubai needs a DHA professional license for the title of Specialist or Consultant in plastic surgery, and the facility needs a license that matches the operations you intend to perform. The second half is where plastic surgery differs from every other specialty: liposuction and anything needing deep sedation or general anaesthesia may only be done in a day surgery centre of the right class or in a hospital, not in an outpatient clinic. This page covers both halves, the licensing route for the surgeon and the facility classification that decides what you may actually operate on.
What is a DHA license for plastic surgeons?
It is a personal license from the Dubai Health Authority for a defined title in plastic surgery, activated against a facility that is licensed for the specialty. It applies inside Dubai Healthcare City as well, since professional licensing in the free zone is managed by DHA.
Titles: Specialist and Consultant plastic surgeon
| Title | Basis |
|---|---|
| Specialist Plastic Surgeon | A recognised plastic surgery qualification with the experience required for your qualification tier |
| Specialist under supervision | Recognised qualification, experience requirement not yet met |
| Consultant Plastic Surgeon | The qualification plus the longer experience required at consultant level |
The tier your qualification falls into decides the years of experience DHA asks for. Check it in the professional qualification requirements before applying, because applying for the wrong title is the most common cause of a returned file.
DHA license requirements for plastic surgeons
- A primary medical degree from a DHA recognised institution.
- A recognised plastic surgery specialty qualification or board certification.
- Post-qualification surgical experience in the amount set for your tier and title.
- Current registration in the country where you last practised, plus a good standing certificate.
- A clean professional record and a complete logbook of your surgical practice.
- A job offer from a facility licensed for plastic surgery, at the right facility class for your operations.
The facility class decides what you may operate
DHA classifies standalone day surgery centres by the depth of anaesthesia they may use, and that classification limits the procedure list. This is the point most surgeons discover too late, after signing with a clinic that cannot host their operations.
| Class | Anaesthesia permitted | Setup required |
|---|---|---|
| Class A | Local anaesthesia and minimal sedation, including oral sedatives | A surgeon and a nurse |
| Class B | Moderate sedation, conscious sedation | Surgeon and nurse team, part-time anaesthetist for narcotic procedures |
| Class CM | Deep sedation and analgesia | At least two operating theatres, a full-time anaesthetist, surgery capped at two hours |
| Class C | General anaesthesia | At least two operating theatres, a full-time anaesthetist, surgery capped at three hours |
Two rules follow directly from the standard:
- Liposuction requires deep sedation, general anaesthesia or major conduction blockade, so it belongs in a Class CM or Class C centre, or a hospital. An outpatient clinic is not the right setting.
- The service must be consultant or specialist led, and the treating surgeon has to stay on site until the patient is discharged.
If you are also building the clinic, this is the single most expensive decision in the plan, because Class CM and C mean two theatres and a full-time anaesthetist on the payroll. See the DHA facility license guide and, for a free zone address, the DHCC facility license and operating permit.
Liposuction: the rules in detail
DHA has a dedicated standard for liposuction services, and it is stricter than the general surgical rules. If liposuction is part of your business plan, these are the numbers to build around.
| Requirement | What the standard sets |
|---|---|
| Who may perform it | A DHA licensed Specialist or Consultant Plastic Surgeon only, as a consultant led service at all times |
| Surgeon training | Documented training in liposuction, in fluid and electrolyte management and in emergency resuscitation, plus active ACLS certification |
| Continuing education | 50 CME credits per year |
| Staffing per procedure | At least two perioperative registered nurses plus a dedicated recovery nurse |
| Volume limit | 5,000 ml total aspirate per procedure, including supernatant fat and fluid |
| Combined with other procedures | Maximum drops to 2,000 ml |
| Above 3,000 ml | A catheter is required |
| Setting | General hospital, specialty hospital or day surgical centre only |
| Day surgical centre extras | Ventilators and hemodynamic monitoring on site, plus a transfer agreement with a hospital |
| Monitoring | Continuous pulse oximetry and blood pressure, emergency equipment including oxygen, bag-valve-mask and crash cart |
Read the volume limits as a business constraint, not only a clinical one. A high volume liposuction offer built on single long sessions runs into the 5,000 ml cap and the three hour cap in a Class C centre at the same time.
Non-surgical cosmetic procedures
Under the DHA standards for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, plastic surgeons and dermatologists are the two groups permitted to perform them without additional cosmetic training. Every other specialist or consultant needs documented training first, and a general practitioner needs training plus a year of mentorship under a plastic surgeon or dermatologist and privileging committee approval. Laser and IPL carry their own requirement of documented hands on cases. Details on that side are in the guide to the DHA license for dermatologists.
The licensing route step by step
To get a DHA license as a plastic surgeon, you complete seven steps in Sheryan, and only the last one needs an employer. The order below follows DHA’s Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals, version 1.2.
- Create a Sheryan account and run the self-assessment.ย The tool is free and asks for no uploads. Its result is preliminary. An “eligible” result leads to the Get Registered service. A “not eligible” result leads to the paid Review Registration Eligibility service, where DHA reviews your documents.
- Startย primary source verificationย (PSV).ย A verification company appointed by DHA checks your degree, specialty qualification, experience letters, licence, good standing certificate and logbook. The outcome is Positive, Unable to Verify or Discrepancy. You can appeal an Unable to Verify result twice and a Discrepancy once. DHA accepts a PSV report transferred from the Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or federal authority.
- Generate your eligibility ID and sit the computer-based test, if your title has one.ย Sheryan issues the eligibility ID, and you use it to book a Prometric test centre. DHA lets the PSV and the test run at the same time.
- Submit the Get Registered application.ย DHA processes it only after a completed PSV report and a passed test. The review ends in approval, rejection or a return for more documents, a changed title, a trainee restriction or added limitations.
- Sit the oral assessment, if your title requires one.ย DHA schedules it after the registration application, which is the route for Consultant Plastic Surgery.
- Receive the eligibility letter.ย The Professional Registration Certificate is valid for one year. If no facility activates it in that year, you renew it within the 90 days before it expires or start again.
- Accept a job and have the facilityย activate the licence.ย The facility applies from its own Sheryan account and you give consent. You need malpractice insurance that names you, your specialty and the facility. Non-UAE nationals need a labour card, and applicants aged 65 or older need a medical fitness report. A first DHA licence is always full-time.
How much does a DHA plastic surgery license cost?
A DHA plastic surgery license costs AED 3,200 in DHA fees plus USD 280 for the exam on the Specialist route with a one-year licence. The Consultant route replaces the exam fee with the AED 500 oral assessment, for AED 3,700. The table lists each official line item from DHA’s Sheryan service pages, read in September 2026.
| Fee | Amount | Paid by |
|---|---|---|
| Get Registered (credentialing) | AED 200 | Applicant |
| Review Registration Eligibility, only after a “not eligible” self-assessment | AED 200 | Applicant |
| Computer-based test, Specialist Plastic Surgery | USD 280 | Applicant, to Prometric |
| Oral assessment, physicians | AED 500 (urgent: AED 2,000) | Applicant |
| Licence activation, physicians, full-time | AED 3,000 for 1 year ยท AED 5,000 for 2 years ยท AED 7,500 for 3 years | Through the facility’s account |
| Registration renewal, if not activated within a year | AED 200 | Applicant |
| Late licence renewal, physicians | AED 600 per month | Through the facility’s account |
DHA adds Knowledge and Innovation fees at checkout. Two costs sit outside the table. The verification company charges for PSV per document and DHA does not publish that price. Malpractice insurance is priced by the insurer. Who carries the activation fee is a contract point, so settle it in your offer letter.
How long does the DHA license take for a plastic surgeon?
DHA publishes a fixed time for two stages only, so the total depends on how fast your university, regulator and past employers answer the verification requests. Any single figure for the whole route is an estimate, and DHA does not publish one.
The timed stages are:
- Computer-based test result:ย within 2 working days in Sheryan.
- Oral assessment result:ย within 3 to 5 working days.
Everything else depends on other parties. PSV waits on the institutions that issued your documents. The Get Registered review can come back with a request for more documents. Activation waits on your employer’s Sheryan application, your insurance and your labour card.
Three clocks run against you, so plan around them:
- The good standing certificate expires for DHA’s purposes six months after issue.
- The registration expires after one year if no facility activates it.
- The exam exemption lapses after two years out of practice.
The manual gives you one way to save time: run PSV and the computer-based test together.
What is the DHA assessment for plastic surgeons?
The DHA assessment for plastic surgeons is a computer-based test for the Specialist title and an oral assessment for the Consultant title. DHA’s licensing assessment guideline, updated May 2026, lists the Specialist test and no Consultant test for plastic surgery. The guideline sends every unlisted title to an oral panel.
The table below gives the Specialist exam as the guideline publishes it.
| Item | Specialist Plastic Surgery |
|---|---|
| Exam code | PLA5671 |
| Format | 150 multiple-choice questions |
| Duration | 3 hours, including registration and the introduction |
| Fee | USD 280, paid to Prometric |
| Pass score | 65% |
| Result | Pass or Fail in Sheryan within 2 working days; the score is not shared |
The test covers ten areas:
- Wound repair and integument
- Head, neck and craniomaxillofacial surgery
- Breast disease
- Anaesthesia, critical care, transplant and immunology
- Upper extremity
- Lower extremity
- Genitourinary system and trunk
- Burn
- Patient safety
- Professionalism and ethics
The guideline’s reading list names Neligan’s Plastic Surgery, Mathes and Hentz’s Plastic Surgery and Green’s Operative Hand Surgery. DHA “reserves the right” to change the content, the format or the pass score without updating the guideline, so check the current version before you book.
How does the oral assessment work?
The oral assessment is an online panel interview built on clinical scenarios. DHA’s assessment manual sets at least five scenarios, a length of 20 to 30 minutes, English only and no translator. At least two panel members sit, and all of them must agree on one result. The panel cannot move you to a different title, so a Consultant candidate below Consultant standard fails. The result reaches Sheryan in 3 to 5 working days.
Who is exempt from the DHA exam?
The PQR exempts two groups of specialists and consultants from the licensure exam:
- Holders of a Tier 1 specialty certificate from one of 21 countries:ย Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.
- Holders of a Tier 2 certificate who meet every one of five further conditions:ย sub-specialty training, more than ten years in the specialty with two in a senior teaching-hospital post, work with an academic training team, a valid licence in good conduct, and publications, research or conferences.
UAE nationals and children of Emirati women are exempt from the examinations outright. The exemption covers the exam and nothing else, so PSV, the good standing certificate and the logbook still apply. It lapses after a gap of practice of more than two years.
Why plastic surgery applications and openings stall
- Signing with a clinic whose class does not permit the anaesthesia your operations need.
- Applying for Consultant when the qualification tier supports only Specialist.
- An incomplete surgical logbook, so the experience cannot be verified.
- Planning liposuction in an outpatient setting.
- Budgeting a Class C centre without the full-time anaesthetist and the second theatre.
- Good standing requested too early and expired by activation.
Frequently asked questions
Can a plastic surgeon operate in an outpatient clinic in Dubai?
Only for what that setting permits. Procedures needing deep sedation or general anaesthesia, liposuction included, belong in a Class CM or Class C day surgery centre or a hospital.
Do plastic surgeons need extra training for botox and fillers in Dubai?
No. Plastic surgeons and dermatologists may perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures without additional cosmetic training. The facility still needs DHA permission for those services.
How long does a DHA plastic surgery license take?
Plan in months. Primary source verification is the slowest step because it depends on third parties, then the assessment and activation follow.
Is the license valid in Abu Dhabi?
No. Abu Dhabi licenses through DOH and the Northern Emirates through MOHAP.
