Gastroenterology — Specialty Licensing
Eligibility & Classification
| Category | Requirement | Prometric exam |
|---|---|---|
| Specialty — Category 1 | 5 years total + 1 year post-specialty | Not required |
| Specialty — Category 2 | 5 years total + 2 years post-specialty | Not required |
| Specialty — Category 3 | 5 years total + 3 years post-specialty from governmental or training hospitals, and at least 3 years structured postgraduate training | Required |
| Fellow | 5 years total experience | — |
The category you fall into determines whether you sit the examination at all.
Exam Specification
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Exam name (official) | Qualifying Examination — Gastroenterology |
| Format | 150 MCQs |
| Duration | 3 hours |
| Pass mark | 65% |
| Sponsor code | SCHQ2 |
Content Blueprint
Official blueprint — published in the DHP "Specialty Physician Exams — Qualifying Examination Blueprint" document.
| Domain | Items | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Gastroenterology Nutrition Motility Disorders | 9 | 6.0% |
| Gastrointestinal Malignancies | 13 | 8.7% |
| Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Small and Large Intestine | 9 | 6.0% |
| Gastrointestinal Bleeding | 23 | 15.3% |
| Oesophageal and Gastric Diseases | 21 | 14.0% |
| Pancreaticobiliary Diseases | 23 | 15.3% |
| Liver and Liver Related Conditions and Diseases | 38 | 25.3% |
| Patient Safety | 7 | 4.7% |
| Professionalism and Ethics | 7 | 4.7% |
| Total | 150 | 100% |
Liver disease is the largest domain, at 38 of 150 items. The blueprint document gives the duration as 3½ hours. The DHP Qualifying Examination page gives 3 hours.
Credential Verification
Check who the current approved provider is before you pay anyone. The DHP's contract with GBS ended on 7 February 2024, and Quadrabay was endorsed as a second provider in 2025.
Fees
Prometric examination fee: $244 USD from 1 January 2026. Primary source verification, DHP portal evaluation and licence issuance fees are not published.
Training in Qatar
Hamad Medical Corporation lists a Gastroenterology fellowship, which is not ACGME-I accredited. No Qatari Board examination in Gastroenterology is published, and no separate Hepatology or Transplant Hepatology programme or examination is published.