Cambodia's exit exam and council registration for health workers

Medical and health education in Cambodia

Cambodia's health education was rebuilt from very little after the 1970s. The University of Health Sciences in Phnom Penh trains most doctors, pharmacists and dentists, awarding a medical doctorate that takes about seven years including a final clinical year and thesis. Nursing and midwifery are taught at diploma and bachelor levels. Teaching has historically used Khmer, with French and English influence in textbooks. The Ministry of Health leads on health professionals, and the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia oversees higher-education quality.

The link to licensing is tied to graduation: a National Exit Examination, introduced from 2013 for several health professions, sits at the end of the programme, and registration follows with the relevant council. This means your cohort and your school are part of the process rather than a separate booking. Because the system is young and public detail is limited, confirm programme length, the exit exam and registration steps with the Ministry of Health.

A young system, built in a hurry

Cambodia's health workforce was rebuilt from very little after the 1970s. Its regulatory architecture is correspondingly recent. ASEAN mutual recognition work began in 2006 for nursing and 2009 for medicine and dentistry, and a law on the regulation of health practitioners followed in late 2016. That law requires every practitioner to register initially and to hold a renewable licence, and ties renewal to continuing professional development. Penalties exist, though published research notes that enforcement is thinly resourced.

The exam sits within this story. A national exit exam is meant to put a common yardstick under all graduates, independent of the school they attended. For you as a candidate, this has two practical effects. The exam is not a free-standing licence test that you book when ready; it is tied to your graduating cohort. And the paperwork runs through your institution as much as through the regulator.

Who needs a licensing exam in Cambodia

• Doctors: final-year students and graduates of local health-science programmes sit the National Exit Examination. Registration is with the Medical Council of Cambodia.
• Dentists: covered by the exit exam; registration with the Dental Council of Cambodia.
• Nurses: degree-level nursing is covered; registration with the Cambodian Council of Nurses.
• Midwives: our research lists the exit exam, but published research did not describe a midwife exam. Midwifery has separate education and registration from nursing, and is outside the ASEAN mutual recognition framework. Confirm with the Cambodian Midwives Council.
• Pharmacists: the Pharmacy Council of Cambodia sets scope and competencies; the exam position is unconfirmed.
• Physiotherapists: no statutory council exam identified.

The National Exit Examination

The exit exam covers medicine, dentistry and degree-level nursing, and is a requirement for registration. It was introduced for medicine from 2013 and then extended to other health professions. The reported structure is a multiple-choice written component with an OSCE. The OSCE was suspended in 2017 because it was too demanding on resources, so recent candidates may face the written paper only. Check with your faculty whether the clinical component has been reinstated for your year.

Language: Khmer is the language of the exam for most candidates. Our research notes that some English is used for medical terminology and teaching, but how much appears in the exam itself is not confirmed.

1. Confirm your cohort's exam date with your faculty. It is scheduled nationally and notified through the institution.
2. Sit the written paper. Study from the national curriculum for your programme, not from other countries' syllabi alone.
3. Apply to your council for registration. Bring the graduation and exam results documents.
4. Keep up with CPD. The 2016 law makes licence renewal depend on it.

Councils and what each one does

The five councils named in the 2016 framework each cover one profession. For clarity, here they are in one place.

Foreign recognition and ASEAN

Cambodia has signed ASEAN mutual recognition arrangements for nursing (2006) and for medical and dental practitioners (2009). In practice these frameworks set principles for cooperation and registration conditions. They do not allow a doctor licensed in another ASEAN country to start work in Cambodia without Cambodian registration. For foreign-trained health workers, the realistic route is to apply to the relevant council, expect document verification, and ask whether an exam, interview or language assessment applies to you. Midwives are outside the arrangement.

For Cambodians who plan to move abroad, the exit exam is the starting point of a licence history that overseas regulators will ask about, so keep your registration documents and consider asking the council for a certificate of good standing early.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming the exam is optional. Registration is compulsory under the 2016 law, and the exit exam is part of how graduates in the covered professions get there.
• Relying on old information. The OSCE was suspended in 2017. Notes from earlier cohorts may describe a different exam.
• Ignoring CPD. Licences are renewable and renewal depends on continuing professional development, so the exam is the start of a cycle, not the end.
• Using unofficial agents. Council contacts and fees should be confirmed with the council or your institution.

How to prepare

Because the language of assessment is mainly Khmer, English-only question banks serve as a supplement for terminology and for later international exams, not as the primary preparation. Use your national curriculum for the exit exam. Use TriagePass questions to practise reasoning in single-best-answer format and to build an English clinical vocabulary for the next step in your career.

Last reviewed October 2026