The Maldives monthly licensing exam: MMDC rules, venues and deadlines

Medical and health education in the Maldives

The Maldives has no long-established domestic medical school, so most doctors are trained overseas, commonly in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malaysia. At home, health-professional education is concentrated in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Maldives National University (MNU), which teaches nursing, public health and allied health programmes. Confirm any new medical programme with the Ministry of Health. Instruction is in English, though Dhivehi is the national language.

The Maldives Medical and Dental Council (MMDC) licenses doctors and dentists. Graduates of both local and foreign schools sit the MMDC licensing exam, and the council publishes its sitting dates each year. The degree has to come from a programme the council recognises, and the council also looks at the internship carried out after graduation.

Nursing is mainly a diploma or degree route through MNU and related institutions. Check the MMDC and Ministry of Health for current rules on each profession.

Most licensing systems schedule a few big sittings a year. The Maldives schedules twelve small ones. The reason is practical: the country spreads across a long chain of atolls, a large share of its doctors and nurses are expatriates arriving on contract, and each arrival needs a licence before starting. A rolling calendar suits that pattern better than fixed seasons.

Who needs a licensing exam in the Maldives

• Doctors, local and expatriate: MMDC registration and licence are required to practise. The exam applies to medical officers registered after 31 December 2013.
• Dentists: regulated by the same council, which lists a licensing exam for dentists. The 2026 notice we reviewed describes the requirement for medical officers and does not set out a dental version, so confirm with MMDC.
• Nurses and midwives: the Maldives Nursing and Midwifery Council, a Ministry of Health body, publishes annual reports. A licensing exam for expatriate nurses has been reported but is unverified.
• Pharmacists: regulated through the Ministry of Health and professional councils. No exam verified.
• Physiotherapists: Allied Health Council under the Ministry of Health. No exam verified.

Doctors: the MMDC licensing exam

The council operates under the Health Professionals Act (Law no. 13/2015). Its published 2026 schedule lists monthly exam sittings from January 2026 through to January 2027, each with a short application window of two or three days, opening at 8:30am and closing at 1:00pm on the final date.

Examples of the published windows: applications for the October 2026 exam ran from 22 to 24 September, for November from 26 to 28 October, for December from 24 to 26 November, and for January 2027 from 3 to 5 January. A missed window means waiting for the next month.

What the notice does not give is the exam structure, duration, fees or pass mark. We therefore do not state them. The practical lesson is the rule that comes with the schedule: you must clear the exam before your registration and licence expire.

1. Check your registration date. If MMDC registered you after 31 December 2013, the exam applies.
2. Note your licence expiry. Book a sitting well before that date.
3. Find the application window. They are short, so watch the schedule on the MMDC site.
4. Apply online. Use the virtual counter at counter.health.gov.mv. Forms are also on the MMDC site.
5. Sit at the nearest venue. Male’, Kulhudhuffushi, Thinadhoo, L. Gan or S. Hithadhoo campus.

Dentists

Dentists are regulated by MMDC alongside doctors, and the council states that practising medicine or dentistry without registration and a licence is an offence. The exam page we reviewed names medical officers explicitly. If you are a dentist, ask MMDC whether the same monthly exam applies, whether the content differs, and which venue to attend.

Nurses and midwives

Nursing and midwifery have a separate body, the Maldives Nursing and Midwifery Council, located under the Ministry of Health, which published an annual report in 2025. Reports mention a licensing exam for expatriate nurses, but we could not verify the format, so we do not describe one. If you are recruited from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan, which are the main source countries for the Maldivian health workforce, ask your employer to send the council’s written requirements before you travel.

Pharmacists and physiotherapists

For both groups the Ministry of Health and its councils are the relevant bodies. We found no exam. Pharmacists and physiotherapists recruited from abroad should expect document verification of their degree and home registration at minimum, and should ask for the ministry’s written list.

Planning around a rolling calendar

A monthly schedule is flexible but unforgiving about deadlines. Three habits help.

• Work backwards from expiry. If your licence ends in six months, aim to sit in month three, which leaves room for a second attempt without a lapse.
• Treat the application window as the deadline. The windows are two or three days long and close at 1:00pm on the last day. Submitting on the final morning risks losing the month if the counter is busy.
• Choose the venue early. Five venues serve the country, and travelling between atolls takes time. If you work in a remote island facility, ask your employer to arrange leave for the sitting and the journey.

Doctors on short contracts should ask at recruitment whether the exam falls inside the contract period. If it does, the hospital should state who covers the cost and the time.

Exams in the Maldives at a glance

Language and recognition

The Maldives has a very international health workforce, and the council’s notices are published in English. The language of the exam itself is not stated in the notice we reviewed. Doctors recruited from abroad will usually be asked for primary-source verification of their degree and proof of registration in the home country before MMDC registration. Whether that step is administered by the council or by the employer varies, so check with the hiring hospital.

Because the licensing exam is tied to registration and renewal, it is best treated as part of your career timeline from the first contract, not as a one-off hurdle after arrival.

TriagePass is independent and is not affiliated with the MMDC or the Ministry of Health.

Last reviewed October 2026