EPIC to validate medical certificates

Check on hires

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 6: Assistant Undersecretary for Technical Affairs at the Ministry of Health Dr Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi was recently quoted as saying the ministry has approved the EPIC, a specialized international organization, to check and verify doctors’ certificates, which will reduce the possibility of employing anyone based on false credentials and keep pace with the expansion and increase the clinical capacity in public and specialized hospitals, reports Al-Rai daily.

Al-Mutairi said this step emanated from the guidance of the Minister of Health Dr Bassel Al-Sabah and Undersecretary of the ministry Dr Mustafa Redha, who presided over a meeting via video communication with officials of the EPIC Foundation recently in the presence of Assistant Undersecretary for Technical Affairs, Assistant Undersecretary for National Medical Services, Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Support Services, Director of Technical Department, Chairman of the Kuwaiti Medical Association and Advisor to the Undersecretary of the Ministry.

The audit mechanism was discussed in detail through reliable means of communication with the international organization and through authorized or accredited persons.

According to the EPIC statistics for 2017, 50,000 credentials have been verified from different universities and 95 percent of the documents were verified within a maximum period of three months. There was no error in verifying the validity of any certificates or credentials, say sources.

EPIC, is the US-based electronic certificate portfolio, is a non-profit organization and is a primary source of medical accreditation for physicians and institutions around the world, verifying the main source of the document, (ECFMG), where auditing through this body is a standard and a prerequisite for the recruitment of physicians in the United States.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has taken a decision not to take into consideration the masters or PhD or Diploma certificates of non-Kuwaiti doctors who are working for medical technical authorities in Kuwait, reports Al-Anba Daily.

The decision came after the request for revision of the promotion of nonKuwaiti doctors to the functional levels about those who don’t meet their scientific experiences.