| (1) | A medical practitioner or dentist who enjoys recognition as a specialist in any country other than South Africa on the basis of foreign qualifications— |
| (a) | may apply to the board for— |
| (i) | registration in the category independent practice (specialist); or |
| (ii) | registration in the category public service (specialist); and |
| (b) | shall, for this purpose, submit his or her application for such registration to the board on an application form supplied by the board which shall be duly completed; and |
| (c) | shall pay the prescribed registration fee. |
| (2) | Such foreign qualified medical practitioner or dentist who wishes to obtain registration in the category independent practice (specialist), may apply to the board for such registration only after having fully complied with all the requirements for registration in the category independent practice (general practitioner) as specified in the Regulations published in terms of section 25 of the Act and having been registered as such. |
| (3) | Subsequent to having complied with the requirements referred to in subregulation (2), such medical practitioner or dentist shall submit documentary proof to the board— |
| (a) | that he or she had obtained a specialist qualification in a speciality recognised in terms of regulation 2 and that that qualification was accredited or otherwise recognised by and the standard thereof acceptable to the registering or other appropriate authority in medicine or dentistry in the country concerned; |
| (b) | of the number of years that elapsed since he or she had obtained his or her basic qualification in medicine or dentistry which shall not be less than six years in the case of medicine or five years in the case of dentistry; |
| (c) | of the nature and duration of the specialist education and training which the applicant was required to undergo in the country concerned; |
| (d) | that the applicant had been registered as a medical practitioner or dentist with the relevant registering authority for the full duration of his or her specialist education and training: Provided that exemption from the requirement in paragraph (d) may be granted at the discretion of the board; |
| (e) | issued by the foreign university or other educational institution concerned to certify that— |
| (i) | the hospital or hospitals at which the applicant was educated and trained, is/are or was/were a teaching hospital or hospitals of the faculty of medicine or dentistry or medical or dental school of that particular university or other educational institution; |
| (ii) | that hospital or hospitals is/are or was/were approved and recognised to provide specialist education and training in the applicant’s speciality; |
| (iii) | the specified period which the applicant had spent at the hospital or hospitals in question, is regarded and recognised by that university or other educational institution as a period of education and training in the applicant’s speciality. |
| (4) | Credit for a maximum of twelve months may be granted by the board as part of required specialist education and training for— |
| (a) | education and training obtained in a discipline considered by the board to be related to the applicant’s speciality; |
| (b) | research considered by the board to be appropriate in the applicant’s speciality or in a discipline considered by the board to be related to that person’s speciality. |
| (5) | On receipt to the satisfaction of the board of the documentary proof referred to in subregulation (3), the applicant may be granted registration in the category independent practice (specialist) if such an applicant had first— |
| (a) | obtained an accredited South African specialist qualification in his or her speciality; and |
| (b) | if so required by the board, completed such period of specialist education and training in his or her speciality as the board may specify as the holder of an approved registrar post at an accredited academic teaching department in a teaching hospital, subject to the requirements specified in these Regulations: Provided that there was no application from a South African citizen for the registrar post in question. |
| (6) | A medical practitioner or dentist who wishes to obtain registration in the category public service (specialist), may apply to the board for registration in that category only after having fully complied with all the requirements for registration in the category public service (general practitioner) as specified in the Regulations published in terms of section 25 of the Act and having been registered as such. |
| (7) | Subsequent to having complied with the requirements referred to in subregulation (6), such medical practitioner or dentist shall submit the documentary proof referred to in subregulation (3). |
| (8) | Should the board, on receipt of such documentary proof, agree to consider such an application, the applicant may be granted permission to sit for the examination in his or her speciality prescribed in terms of section 35(1B) of the Act and— |
| (a) | should the applicant pass that examination, he or she may be granted registration in the category public service (specialist); but |
| (b) | should the applicant fail the examination, he or she may— |
| (i) | be afforded the opportunity to have his or her competence in the speciality reassessed at a future examination; |
| (ii) | be afforded such opportunity to be re-assessed only once. |
| (9) | An applicant who failed the examination in his or her speciality prescribed in terms of subregulation (8), may wish his or her competence to be assessed in the domain of his or her speciality— |
| (a) | at the exit level of a postgraduate diploma; |
| (b) | by an examination approved by the board; and |
should such an applicant pass such an examination, he or she shall confine his or her practice to the scope of practice for which he or she was assessed, while retaining his or her registration in the category public service (general practitioner).
