Macau's accreditation exam for new health professionals: what is confirmed and what is not

Medical and health education in Macau

Macau's health education sector is small and recent. Nursing and health-science degrees are offered by local institutions such as the Macao Polytechnic University and Kiang Wu Nursing College, while local medicine programmes are recent and few. Many Macau doctors have historically trained abroad, in mainland China, Portugal, Taiwan or Hong Kong. Instruction is in Chinese, Portuguese or English depending on where and what you study.

Registration is overseen by the Health Bureau (衛生局, SSM). Under Law 18/2020, health professionals complete an accreditation exam and a period of internship before licensing, and this applies to local and non-local graduates alike. Because the regime is new and public information is thin, we have not confirmed the length of local programmes, the accrediting bodies or the internship terms. Treat programme length and accreditation as questions to put to the Health Bureau and the university, not as settled facts.

A new system with thin public detail

Macau is the least documented market in this region, and it helps to say so plainly. Law 18/2020 set up a unified regime for qualification and registration, and with it an accreditation exam that new entrants must pass. The first exams ran from the 2021-22 cycle.

The detail sits in secondary legislation and in notices from the Health Bureau and its council for health professionals (the Conselho dos Profissionais de Saúde, CPS). Administrative Regulation 24/2021, approved in July 2021 and in force from 1 October 2021, lists the medical and nursing specialties and the academic qualifications accepted, including how the CPS treats degrees obtained outside Macau: it looks at course duration, purpose, curriculum and credits. It does not describe the exam.

Who needs a licensing exam in Macau

• Graduates of Macau programmes: sit the accreditation exam before internship and licensing, as do all new entrants.
• Graduates trained in mainland China, Hong Kong, Portugal or elsewhere: are also new entrants and sit the same exam. Their degree is assessed first by the council.
• Professionals already registered before the new regime: may be treated under transitional arrangements. We have not verified these, so ask the Health Bureau how your situation is treated.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, physiotherapists

Each of these five professions has its own accreditation exam under the same law. The exam is a written test, reported as multiple-choice, though the format has not been confirmed. The professions covered are:

• Doctors (醫生)
• Nurses (護士)
• Pharmacists (藥劑師)
• Dentists (牙科醫生)
• Physiotherapists (物理治療師)

In each case, the sequence is the same: the council assesses your qualification, you pass the accreditation exam, you complete the internship, and you are licensed.

1. Confirm that your degree is accepted. The council assesses outside degrees on duration, purpose, curriculum and credits.
2. Apply to sit the accreditation exam through the Health Bureau for the next announced session.
3. Pass the exam for your profession.
4. Complete the internship.
5. Register and obtain the licence to practise.

Midwives

We found no separate midwife exam. Midwifery is practised by nurses, and a midwife in Macau should read the nurse accreditation route and confirm with the Health Bureau whether a midwifery specialty is recognised and how it is credentialed.

Exams in Macau compared

Language and recognition

Macau's official languages are Chinese and Portuguese, and English is used widely in practice. Which language the exam is set in, and whether candidates can choose, is not confirmed here. This matters most for candidates from Portugal and from English-speaking systems, so ask early.

Recognition runs through the council's assessment of your degree, not through an automatic scheme. A graduate of a Hong Kong or mainland programme still sits the exam as a new entrant.

How Macau sits next to its neighbours

Many candidates compare Macau with Hong Kong and the mainland, since all three share a Chinese-language base and a flow of professionals between them. The differences are worth stating:

• Mainland China: has a large national exam with published formats, and a very large candidate pool. See the China hub.
• Hong Kong: exams apply only to non-locally trained professionals, with each council setting its own. See the Hong Kong hub.
• Macau: applies one accreditation exam to every new entrant, local or not, under a single law.

Questions to put to the Health Bureau

Because the public detail is limited, a short written enquiry saves more time than any amount of searching. Ask for answers in writing and keep them.

1. Exam content. Ask for the syllabus, the number of items and the subjects for your profession, and whether Macau law and ethics are examined.
2. Language. Ask which languages the paper is offered in and whether you may choose.
3. Dates and fees. Ask how many sessions run each year, the application window, and the fee.
4. Attempts and validity. Ask whether the number of attempts is limited and how long a pass remains valid before internship.
5. Degree assessment. Ask whether the council assesses your degree before the exam or in parallel, and which documents it needs.

Planning your timeline

The sequence is assessment, exam, internship, licence, and each step depends on the one before it. If you are a foreign-trained applicant, start the degree assessment first, because a delay there delays everything after it. Students in Macau programmes should ask their university how the exam fits around final-year dates. Until you have a confirmed session date, avoid committing to a job start or a relocation that depends on passing.

Preparing when the blueprint is unclear

When an official blueprint is unavailable, preparation should rest on the fundamentals of your profession and on Macau's legal and professional framework. Three practical steps:

• Request the syllabus or a sample from the Health Bureau before you spend on materials.
• Study the clinical core of your profession as you would for any licensing exam, and add Macau's regulatory framework once you have confirmed it is examined.
• Keep records of every notice and its date. A system this new changes often.

Last reviewed October 2026