Algerian healthcare exams: registration by diploma and the résidanat

Medical and health education in Algeria

Medicine in Algeria is a seven-year degree, ending with a year of hospital internship, and leads to the title of doctor in medicine. Pharmacy and dentistry take five years. Around a dozen faculties of medicine train doctors, in cities such as Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Tizi Ouzou, Blida, Batna and Tlemcen. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research runs the faculties, while the Ministry of Health regulates clinical practice. Teaching in medical sciences is mainly in French, with Arabic widely used in daily hospital work.

Graduates can practise as general practitioners once registered with the National Council of the Medical Order. There is no national licensing exam for them. The competitive gate comes next: the national residency competition (concours de résidanat), a ranking exam that decides who may specialise and where. Foreign-trained doctors must have their degree recognised and may be required to pass an evaluation. Algeria also receives students from sub-Saharan Africa, who normally return home and follow their own country’s licensing procedures. Confirm current rules with the Ministry of Health.

Algeria rewards the generalist at the start and the ranker at the end

Algerian medicine splits cleanly in two. Getting the degree makes you a general practitioner. Becoming a specialist means winning a place through the résidanat. The two are separated by an exam that is as competitive as any in North Africa, and almost every medical graduate who wants a specialty sits it.

For the other professions the picture is simpler and quieter. Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and physiotherapists are registered from their diploma, without a national MCQ gate that we could confirm.

Who needs a licensing exam in Algeria

Locally trained. Doctors register with the Ordre national des médecins (CNOM Algérie) and the Ministry of Health. Other professions register through the Ministry and their professional body. None involves a national licensing paper on the sources we have.

Foreign-trained. A foreign degree needs diploma equivalence from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. For foreign doctors, nationality conditions and reciprocity are real obstacles, so the question is often whether you are allowed to practise at all, not which exam to sit.

Doctors: concours de résidanat and the DEMS

The résidanat is the national competition for places in residency, which leads to the Diplôme d'études médicales spécialisées (DEMS). The competition is organised by the Ministry responsible for higher education and the Ministry of Health through the faculties. Internal rules of the competition are published by faculties; one example is the reglement interieur hosted by the University of Mostaganem medical faculty.

Format. Written QCM, in French. Question counts, scoring and the weighting of subjects vary by year, so read that year's notice rather than a forum summary.

Who sits it. Medical graduates seeking specialty training. The ranking determines the specialty and the training centre, so candidates often prepare for a year or more.

1. Finish the medical doctorate.
2. Read the annual notice for dates, eligibility and the list of specialties and seats.
3. Submit your file to the organising faculty or ministry platform.
4. Sit the QCM papers.
5. Choose a specialty by rank when results are published.

Other professions: registration by diploma

Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and physiotherapists in Algeria register by diploma. We found no national licensing exam for any of them. Pharmacists and dentists have their own professional bodies, and nurses and midwives deal mainly with the Ministry of Health. Foreign diplomas in each case need equivalence. Specialist postgraduate tracks, such as pharmacy residency, run through faculties and are not licensing exams.

Exams at a glance

Language and recognition

Medical study in Algeria is mainly in French, while Arabic is the language of administration. The résidanat is a French-language exam. Candidates who trained in Arabic-medium programmes elsewhere should budget time for terminology.

There is no Dataflow or Prometric step inside Algeria. Recognition of foreign degrees is a ministry file. If your plan is to leave, you are preparing for two separate things: the Algerian résidanat if you want to specialise at home, or the exam of your destination country, such as France's verification procedure or a Gulf licensing test.

Preparing for the résidanat

• Treat it as ranking. Aim to remove errors on core subjects before chasing rare topics.
• Practise in French with full-length timed blocks.
• Use clinical-case QCM, not only isolated facts, because cases dominate the later papers in most francophone systems.
• Track weak systems after each block and revisit them within a week.

How the résidanat is organised in practice

Algerian faculties publish the internal rules of the competition, which cover registration, the subjects tested, scoring and the way specialties are allocated. The version hosted by the Mostaganem medical faculty is an example of the genre. Read the current text for your sitting. Rules are amended, and what a senior colleague remembers from five years ago may no longer apply.

Allocation by rank has a second consequence. Because you choose a specialty from what is left at your position, a modest improvement in score can change both the specialty and the city. Many candidates therefore rank their preferences before the exam and revisit them once they see the seat list.

Common mistakes we see in North African residency preparation

• Studying only from past papers. They show style, but the exam changes, and memorising old answers does not generalise.
• Neglecting basic sciences. Anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology carry real weight in most francophone QCM competitions.
• Leaving clinical cases to the end. They need time to build pattern recognition.
• Ignoring negative marking rules. Check whether wrong answers cost marks in the notice, and adjust your guessing strategy accordingly.

Nationality, reciprocity and foreign graduates

Foreign nationals who hold an Algerian-recognised degree face nationality and reciprocity conditions for practice. Algerians with foreign degrees must obtain equivalence from the Ministry of Higher Education before any registration step. That file can take months, and the ministry decides which institutions it recognises. If you are in this position, submit equivalence first and prepare for the résidanat in parallel.

For graduates who plan to leave, Algerian doctors have a history of moving to France and the Gulf. Both systems ask for verification of your degree and professional standing. The Ordre can issue the relevant certificates, so register with it early.

Time and place

Because residency places are tied to hospitals across the country, the practical outcome of the competition is geographic as well as clinical. Some candidates prefer a smaller specialty in a larger centre, others the reverse. Decide your priorities before results are posted, so you can choose quickly when the seat list opens.

Last reviewed October 2026