Student elective

Overview

There are two main routes to arranging a hospital elective as a medical student in Kuwait: through the Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine (KU/FOM), or directly through KIMS.

KU route

Via Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine, contributed by Jana AlAwadhi and Dimah AlMazyad.

• Get confirmation from the department and the doctor you want to work with; agree on hours and dates
• Go to the Faculty of Medicine Administration office and collect:
  • “To Whom It May Concern” letter confirming you are a student
  • FOM elective application form from KU
• Fill in the FOM application form and email fom.elective@hscm.ku.edu.kw with your Civil ID/passport and university enrollment letter
• You will receive an acceptance email and be asked to collect papers from the MOH Technical Department (allow a few days up to 2 weeks)
• Collect your papers from MOH and get them signed by: head of health district, head of hospital, and head of department
• You’re done — good luck with your elective!

KIMS route

Via KIMS Internship Office, contributed by Dr. Khadeja AlRefaie.

• Request a “Letter of Good Standing” and/or “Verification of Enrollment” from your university
• Write a generic approval letter for yourself to make it easier for the department head to sign
• Approach the head of your target department — if they approve, they sign the letter
• Fill out the KIMS elective form and attach: letter of acceptance from Head of Department, passport, Civil ID, Letter of Good Standing
• Go to KIMS, 6th floor, Internship Office and submit to the secretaries
• If all documents are correct, you will receive a response within 2–7 days
• Once approved by KIMS, take their approval letter to the Director of the Health Region for signature
• Take the signed KIMS letter to the Secretary of the Department where you will do your elective

KIMS notes

• These instructions are for senior medical students doing an elective as part of their curriculum — not for pre-clinical students doing observership or shadowing, which may have different forms
• Primary Health Care / Family Medicine have their own forms and procedures
• The “Letter of Good Standing” or “Verification of Enrollment” must not be older than 60 days at the time of KIMS submission
• You can skip steps 2 and 3 and go directly to KIMS, but having prior department head approval is faster
• KIMS is working on an online application platform — until it launches, this is the fastest route