Medical licensing examination
Examen y licencia obligatoria para médicos
- Date
- 931 · confidence medium
- Place
- Baghdad, Iraq
- Credited to
- Sinan ibn Thabit, by order of Caliph al-Muqtadir
- People
- 👤 Sinan ibn Thabit880–943
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
After a patient died from a doctor's error, the caliph ordered that no physician practise without passing an examination before Sinan ibn Thabit, who tested around 860 in Baghdad. It is the first documented medical licensing system.
The episode is recounted by Ibn al-Qifti (13th century) from earlier sources.
What it led to
- state regulation of the medical profession
- inspection (hisba) of physicians and pharmacists
- precedent for European medical licences