DHA exam for pharmacists: PHO5481

Facts last verified 5 October 2026.

Check the paper code before booking with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Pharmacists sit PHO5481 and need 60%; pharmacy technicians have a separate paper.

Is this the right paper for you?

Choose PHO5481 for the Pharmacist title. Pharmacy technicians sit PHT5451 and need 55% to pass. ProMCQ does not cover that paper.

  • Pharmacist: BSc in Pharmacy or Doctor of Pharmacy. You need 2 years of related experience after you qualify. Industry and sales work do not count.
  • Clinical Pharmacist and Specialized Pharmacist are separate titles with their own rules.
  • A listed-country licence or EPREE can exempt you. Country, recent practice and English conditions apply; the other licensing steps remain.

Pass 60%

Format at a glance

150 questions. Time: 3 hours, including registration and the exam introduction. Pass mark: 60%.

Delivered by Prometric.

What the paper covers

We did not find published section weights for the DHA paper for pharmacists. ProMCQ's mock papers use the published Qatar DHP blueprint for pharmacists as practice targets. These are not DHA's own weights. Each mock includes national-topic content, so its final question shares can differ slightly from these targets.

  • Basic Biomedical Sciences (4.7%): Use basic science to answer drug questions. Revise how the body works and what causes disease.
  • Pharmaceutical Sciences (25.3%): Revise medicinal chemistry, compounding and pharmaceutics. Add biopharmaceutics, pharmacognosy, supplements, sums and pharmacokinetics from DHA’s outline.
  • Social/Behavioral/Administrative Sciences (25.3%): Revise law and ethics. Keep medicines safe, prevent infection and give pharmaceutical care.
  • Clinical Sciences (44.7%): Choose treatment and advice for a patient. Revise clinical therapeutics, OTC drugs, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. Choose the drug, dose change or advice the patient needs.

Sample questions

Eight original practice questions from the DHA pharmacists bank. They are written to the paper's style, not taken from the live exam. Pick an answer to see the key and explanation.

  1. A 32-year-old woman undergoing fertility treatment has developed mature lead follicles after ovarian stimulation. The next medicine should act at the luteinizing hormone receptor, mimic the normal mid-cycle LH surge, and trigger final oocyte maturation and ovulation. Follicle-stimulating hormone supports follicular development but does not serve as the final ovulatory signal. Which agent should be administered as the ovulation trigger?

    1. Clomiphene
    2. Gonadotropins
    3. Letrozole
    4. hCG
    Answer

    D. hCG shares the LH receptor and mimics the mid-cycle LH surge, triggering final oocyte maturation and ovulation after follicles have developed.

  2. A 9-year-old girl receives a compounded suspension whose particles settle too rapidly. The particle diameter is reduced from 20 μm to 2 μm while density difference, viscosity, and gravity remain unchanged. Under Stokes' law, settling velocity is proportional to the square of particle diameter. The diameter therefore becomes one tenth of its original value before the velocity calculation. How does this change affect settling velocity?

    1. A 10-fold decrease
    2. A 100-fold increase
    3. A 100-fold decrease
    4. A 10-fold increase
    Answer

    C. Under Stokes' law, settling velocity is proportional to particle diameter squared. The diameter becomes one tenth as large, so velocity becomes (0.1)² = 0.01 of its original value, a 100-fold decrease.

  3. A 39-year-old man voluntarily joins a drug study after understanding its risks, benefits and alternatives. He signs the approved consent document and accepts the disclosed risks. At a staff meeting, the team discusses whether this acceptance changes who bears responsibility for protecting him throughout his participation in the research. Who retains that responsibility after consent?

    1. The participant accepting the risks
    2. The relatives supporting his enrollment
    3. The witnesses documenting his signature
    4. The researchers conducting the study
    Answer

    D. Informed consent does not transfer responsibility for protection to the participant. The physicians or researchers retain that responsibility throughout the research.

  4. A pharmacy is compounding 50 g of a cream in hydrophilic ointment. The prescription adds 0.5 g of a water-soluble powder that dissolves completely in 1 mL of purified water. This volume is well within the base's water-incorporation capacity, and the resulting solution is stable in the base. Which method of incorporating the powder is most appropriate?

    1. Levigate with mineral oil
    2. Add dry powder at once
    3. Disperse into the oil phase
    4. Dissolve in the water first
    Answer

    D. Levigation is not mandatory for every powder. When a water-soluble ingredient fully dissolves in a small aqueous portion, the solution is stable, and the volume stays within the base's water-incorporation capacity, dissolving it first is the appropriate way to incorporate it smoothly.

  5. A 75-year-old man with type 2 diabetes starts once-daily insulin injections using syringes at home. His son, who helps him each evening, tells the pharmacist he plans to put the cap back on each used needle before throwing it away, so nobody gets pricked. What should the pharmacist advise the son to do?

    1. Put the uncapped syringe straight in a sharps container
    2. Recap it carefully using both hands
    3. Recap it using a one-handed scoop
    4. Bend the needle before disposal
    Answer

    A. After a syringe injection, the intact uncapped syringe goes straight into the sharps container. Recapping or manually detaching its needle adds avoidable needlestick risk.

  6. A 54-year-old woman presents a prescription for oral methotrexate to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The administration schedule requires clarification before dispensing. She asks the pharmacist how to place the medicine on her medication calendar so that she follows the intended regimen. What schedule should the clarified directions specify?

    1. Once each morning
    2. Twice each day
    3. Weekly on a consistent weekday
    4. Once every other day
    Answer

    C. For rheumatoid arthritis, oral methotrexate is administered weekly on a consistent weekday. Mistaken daily administration of a weekly regimen has caused severe adverse effects and deaths.

  7. A 33-year-old woman has a skin scraping that shows an organism with a chitin-containing cell wall and an ergosterol-containing cell membrane. Microscopy is used to distinguish this fungal pathogen from bacteria by identifying its defining cellular organization. The membrane-bound structures must be distinguished from prokaryotic organization and from the sterol composition of human cells. Which cellular feature establishes that the organism is a fungus?

    1. Peptidoglycan-containing cell wall
    2. Cholesterol-based cell membrane
    3. True membrane-bound nucleus
    4. No membrane-bound organelles
    Answer

    C. Fungi are eukaryotic organisms, so their cells contain a true membrane-bound nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.

  8. A refrigerated insulin shipment intended for patients arrives at the pharmacy after transport. What is the most appropriate immediate action before accepting it into stock?

    1. Review the printed expiry date
    2. Inspect the outer packaging
    3. Verify the transport data logger
    4. Assess the product's appearance
    Answer

    C. The cold-chain record must be verified at receipt before acceptance because a transport temperature excursion may damage insulin without visible changes.

Full papers in the real format

10 timed mock papers of 150 questions each, built to the weights above. No question repeats across papers.

How to prepare

  • Our suggested approach: use the Pharmacist outline and references when planning revision.
  • Practise alligation, isotonicity, dilution, infusion rates and renal dose adjustment.
  • For OTC cases, identify symptoms that need referral.
  • Revise half-life, loading doses, maintenance doses and renal clearance.

Licensing steps

  1. Check eligibility: Follow DHA licence steps.
  2. Book the exam: Follow DHA fees and booking.
  3. Get your result: Follow DHA results and next steps.

Frequently asked questions

What is the DHA pharmacist pass mark?

60% for Pharmacist PHO5481. DHA gives a pass or fail result, with no raw score.

How long is the DHA pharmacist exam?

150 questions in a 3-hour appointment. Registration and the introduction are included, so answering time is shorter.

Where can you check exam exemptions?

Read DHA licence steps for your title’s routes and conditions. An exemption removes only the exam.

Which books does DHA list for pharmacists?

An APhA review, Goodman and Gilman, and Aulton are examples. DHA also lists calculations, pharmacokinetics and toxicology books.

Sources

Facts last verified 2026-10-05.

  1. Healthcare Professional Licensing Assessment Guideline: Computer Based Testing (updated September 2026), Dubai Health Authority
  2. Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, April 2025, MOHAP, DOH, DHA and SHA
  3. Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals, Dubai Health Authority
  4. Manual for Professional Assessment, Dubai Health Authority
  5. Get Registered (service description), Dubai Health Authority
  6. Activate Professional License (service description), Dubai Health Authority