Health professional licensing in Sudan during conflict

Medical and health education in Sudan

Sudan has a long tradition of medical education, with schools dating back to the early twentieth century and dozens more founded since the 1990s. The MBBS takes about five to six years, mostly taught in English, and graduates complete a compulsory year of house-officer training (internship) before full registration with the Sudan Medical Council. Postgraduate specialisation is run by the Sudan Medical Specialization Board. Universities are overseen by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and the Federal Ministry of Health leads on health professions.

Please read this with caution. Since 2023 the conflict has disrupted teaching, hospital placements and records, and the numbers of schools, current programme lengths and some administrative processes may not match older descriptions. If you are a Sudanese graduate, keep certified copies of your degree, transcripts and internship certificate, because receiving regulators will ask for them. Confirm the current position with the Federal Ministry of Health or the Sudan Medical Council.

A caution before anything else

This is the hardest page on the site to write responsibly. Sudan has a long tradition of health education and a large body of trained clinicians, but since 2023 the conflict has disrupted universities, councils and exam timetables. Our sources for Sudan are thin, official pages could not be confirmed, and we will not describe procedures as current when we cannot show they are. Where this page says "listed", it means a source we reviewed lists it, not that we have seen a recent sitting.

What is documented, profession by profession

Doctors: the Sudan Medical Council

Sudanese medical graduates register with the Sudan Medical Council after completing their internship. Foreign-trained doctors are expected to pass a registration or licensing assessment. We could not find a published format, number of items or sitting calendar, and we have not seen a recent official notice. If you trained abroad and plan to register in Sudan, contact the Council directly and ask for the current written requirements in English or Arabic.

1. Contact the Council to confirm it is currently processing registrations and where.
2. Prepare certified documents: degree, transcripts, internship records, good standing certificates.
3. Ask whether an assessment applies to your route and when the next sitting is.
4. Keep digital copies of everything, given the disruption to physical records.

Residency entry: the SMSB examination

Specialist training in Sudan is organised by the Sudan Medical Specialization Board. Entry is by a primary or entry examination described as multiple-choice questions. We have not been able to confirm the current scheme, and the Board's activity has been affected by the conflict. Read any notice from the Board itself rather than relying on forums.

Other professions: registration by qualification, with caveats

For nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and physiotherapists, the information we hold lists registration by qualification with no licensing exam. The responsible councils are not named with confidence, and the status is described as unclear due to the conflict. Do not read the absence of an exam as a guarantee that none will be introduced, and do not assume registration will be recognised abroad on that basis alone.

Where Sudanese clinicians actually sit exams

For many Sudanese graduates, the relevant MCQ examinations are not in Sudan. The diaspora is large, and pathways commonly include:

• Saudi Arabia: the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties licensing exams (for example the SMLE for doctors).
• United Kingdom: PLAB for doctors and the NMC Test of Competence for nurses, with OET or IELTS for English.
• Other Gulf states and Egypt-adjacent routes: national licensing exams, usually with Dataflow verification.

Each of those routes has its own country page on this site. A common difficulty for Sudanese graduates is document verification from a country where institutions may be closed or records inaccessible. Raise this early with the receiving regulator; some have emergency arrangements, but we do not state any here.

Language

Sudan's official languages are Arabic and English. Medical education has traditionally been in English, so candidates are generally comfortable with English clinical terminology. We have no evidence of a separate language test for domestic registration.

Recognition and verification

If you are a Sudanese graduate seeking recognition elsewhere, your degree verification is the first practical problem. University records, internship certificates and council good-standing letters may be difficult to obtain. Where a receiving regulator allows alternative evidence, it will say so on its own site.

What TriagePass can and cannot do for Sudan

We cannot tell you what the Sudan Medical Council will require this year. We can help you prepare for the MCQ exams that most Sudanese clinicians face abroad. Join the waitlist, tell us your destination, and we will prioritise it. We are independent of every regulator named here.

Practical advice for Sudanese graduates

If you are a Sudanese graduate planning your next step, a few principles hold regardless of what the councils decide.

• Secure your documents now. Obtain certified copies of your degree, transcripts, internship certificate and any council registration, and store digital copies in more than one place.
• Know which regulators ask for what. Gulf and UK regulators usually require primary-source verification of the degree and evidence of registration in good standing. Ask each one how it treats applicants whose institutions are inaccessible.
• Sequence the English test. OET or IELTS results have an expiry window, usually two years. Book the language test so that it is still valid when your exam and application are complete.
• Prepare for the first MCQ licensing exam. If you have studied in a system with essay or oral examinations, practise computer-based MCQ and single-best-answer questions early.

The residency question

Many Sudanese doctors aim for specialist training. The SMSB route is the domestic one, but conditions in Sudan make it hard to rely on. Doctors in the diaspora often turn to postgraduate routes in the Gulf, the UK or elsewhere, each of which has its own entry requirements. Our country pages for those destinations cover them.

Last reviewed October 2026