Argentina

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Introduction

Argentina medical residency database flagArgentina is a Southeastern South American Federal Republic. It is bordered with Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. This largest Spanish speaking country has population of 43 million (2015 est.). Argentina has 23 provinces while 90% population lives in cities. Argentina is a member of Schengen area and has very high rating on Human Development Index.

Argentina’s health care system is composed of Public, Private & Social security sectors. Ministry of Health monitor all three sectors. Health care has progressed tremendously over past few years. Decrease in infant mortality rate and increase in life expectancy has been observed. Detailed health indexes can be found here

More information about country’s health profile and statistical data can be seen here

Undergraduate Medical Education

Undergraduate medical education in Argentina starts after 12 years of schooling. Students have to take entrance exam usually conducted by universities. Most of the time entrance exam for medical schools of universities comprises two parts. Written (Biology, Physics, Chemistry) and oral exam/interview.

Basic medical Education consist of three cycles:

  1. Biomedical cycle (basic medical sciences) 2.5 year
  2. Clinical cycle 2.5 year
  3. Annual rotation/internship (sixth year clinical rotations) 1 year

At the end of these cycles a final examination of integrated medicine is conducted before graduation.

Foreign students must contact department of international affairs in each university for further guidance and for complete information and options for basic and postgraduate medical education.

Jobs

Jobs for healthcare professionals in Argentina can be found on Mancia

Argentina Medical Residency

Argentina medical residency training is of different types i.e.

  • Residency (where doctor is paid monthly salary with his/her Argentina medical residency or postgraduate specialty training)
  • Concurrences (Unpaid, less duty hours specialty training)
  • Fellowships (these are training where doctors pay the fee to hospital annually, mainly foreign doctors)
  • Post basic training (advanced training after basic training e.g. plastic surgery after basic surgical training)

In Argentina medical schools/faculties of major universities offer Argentina medical residency training programs for medical graduates after their medical education. Local as well as Foreign  medical graduates can get residency training and concurrence training. Difference of both as well as requirements can be seen here (Spanish)

All required documents list can be seen in documentation section

Foreign medical graduates from countries which have signed agreement with Argentina (i.e. Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Peru, Mexico, Chile) can get:

  • Provisional recognition for graduate studies (only for postgraduate courses offered by universities)
  • Authorization for practice
  • Recognition to practice in Argentina

Detailed information about procedure, documents required and address for graduates of above mentioned countries can found here

Other foreign medical graduates should visit and contact University Management Department of Ministry of Education Argentina and Ministry of Health Argentina

Booklet on information of Argentina medical residency and Concurrences

Argentina medical Residency and concurrence program list

An excellent website for further information on Argentina medical residency training.

Licence

Doctors must register in Single Register for Health Professionals on Ministry of Health website and pay the amount of fee mentioned in fee section 15 days prior to expiration of their registration certificate/licence.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for residency at medical faculty of University of Buenos Aires is as follows:

Applicants should be:

  1. Native Argentinian or should have achieved citizenship for more than 4 years at the time of registration.
  2. A graduate of National University (public or private)
  3. No more than five years since issuance of basic medical qualification and no more than 8 years for residency levels.
  4. Overall average equal to or greater than 6 career (six) points (for all levels).

Note: Foreign medical graduates can get Argentina medical residency position if they provide documents mentioned in documentation section and pass exam. 

Following requirements must be met to enter in different residency levels.

1.  Residences Level I:

Medical degree

2.  Residential Level II:

  • A prior year residency
  • a) Medical Specialties: Internal Medicine
  • b) Surgical Specialties: General Surgery

3.  Residential Level III:

Two previous year residency in Internal Medicine for the Department of Medicine specialties Pediatrics and Neonatology.

While for Argentina medical residency training in Infectious Diseases, the previous two years of residence may be in Medical or Clinical Pediatrics.

4.  Residential Level IV:

Three previous year Argentina medical residency in General Surgery while for the residence of Pathological Oncology, three years of residency in pathology.

There is a point based scoring system for final selection into Argentina medical residency training level. Selection process consists of:

For Level I

  • Personal Interview (10 points)
  • Overall college career (10 points)
  • Examination score (50 points)
  • Assistance-ship (0.5/year)
  • Boarding school graduate (1.5 point)
  • Undergraduate internship  6 months (0.6 point)

For Level II,III,IV

  • Overall University career (10 points)
  • Numerical result of a theoretical and practical oral examination with a patient (10 points)
  • Personal Interview (10 points)  

Examination

There is examination for all four Argentina medical residency levels.

  • For level I: It is MCQ based 100 question examination. Each question weighs 0.5 point (total 50 points) and it’s important for getting residency in University.
  • For level II, III, IV: Exam is more theoretical and practical oral exam with a patient. Its has weight-age of 10 points.

Characteristics of each type of Argentina medical residency examination

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Province Provincial Single exam Universities Private *
Entry Difficulty ++++ +++ ++ +++ Varies in hospital/clinics
Modality Multiple choice (4 options) Multiple choice (4 options) Multiple choice (4 options) Multiple choice (4 options) + Interview  Multiple choice + Interview
Exam date April April End of April April April-May
Registration date March March March December/March March-April
Examination fee payment Faculty of medicine UBA+hospital Medical faculty of University of La Plata 18 offices in different provinces Faculty of medicine UBA+hospital Place to be designated by each private institute
Requirements for foreigners Validation completed Validation completed Validation completed or pending Validation completed Validation completed
Website Buenos Aires City government Health ministry of Buenos Aires province Health Ministry of Argentina Website of each university hospital Website of each university hospital

* Each private hospital develops its own mode of examination. So it’s not single test like others

Examination usually is based on basic & clinical knowledge of Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics and Gynecology.

Fee

Fee for registration is 40 dollars

Salary

Average monthly salary of physician in Argentina is 5000 ARS (550 USD), a resident salary varies from 7000-11000 ARS

Procedure

For getting Argentina medical residency position, applicants must register at the Vocational Training Government of the City of Buenos Aires (GCBA), located in the Rivadavia Hospital, AV. Las Heras 2670, before the deadline with the documents mentioned in Documentation section.

Once documents reviewed, applicant will be contacted and will be given dates of examination and later interview if applicable. After passing exam and gaining required points applicant will be selected to Argentina medical residency program.

Foreigners should get their medical qualification validated as soon as possible from ministry of Education and re-validated from University where he/she wants to start his/her residency in. After this he/she can apply for examination.

Documentation

Documents required for registration are as follows

  1. ID card copy
  2. Photocopy of university degree or certificate
  3. Average college career certificate
  4. Internship certificates copies.
  5. Assistantship certificate issued by the concerned faculty.

For Foreigners

  1. Notarized photocopies  or  original Medical Degrees and transcripts attested by Argentinian embassy from country of Origin and re-validation/accredited by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education of Argentina
  2. Applicants with a degree from a foreign university must accompany a copy of the resolution granting the validated (from Ministry of Education) or re-validation (from university an applicant wants to start residency in) of professional title.
  3. Affidavit for meeting requirements for admission in chosen field.
  4. Valid Passport
  5. Residence and work permit
  6. Spanish Proficiency proof (B2 level according to CEFR)
  7. Proof of payment of fee
  8. Internship  & work experience certificates and good standing certificate from health authority of home country or last country of employment. (Though not mentioned in requirements but advised to be useful just in case).

More information for specialization requirements, documents, procedure at University of Buenos Aires medical faculty can be found here.

Postgraduate Medical Education

Apart from Argentina medical residency or specialization training, medical graduates can enroll into master courses offered by all major medical schools in Argentina. These master courses fall under clinical, research and administrative domains. PhD courses are getting more popularity as time passes by.

Activities of CME (Continuous Medical Education) are organized and monitored by different societies in Argentina. Doctors can register and attend conferences, seminars, symposiums etc and get certificates. Some of the societies and organizations are Argentina Society of Internal Medicine, Argentina Society of Infectious Diseases, Argentina Society of General and Internal Medicine, Society of Arterial Hypertension, Argentinian association of Allergy & Immunological  diseases, Argentina Association for the Study of Pain, Argentinian Society of Urology etc.

Argentinian Medical Association is leading organization which conducts and monitors virtual/distance learning education and provides scholarships as well. Complete list of medical schools in Argentina can be seen in World Directory of Medical Schools.

Postgraduate medical education in Argentina is developing and reshaping in many new forms with passage of time.

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