The following categories of specialists undergo internships in the Republic of Belarus: persons who have got higher medical or pharmaceutical education (including those who have got higher medical or pharmaceutical education at the expense of the republican budget and reimbursed the funds spent by the state on their training, or who have got higher medical or pharmaceutical education on a paid basis and submit a certificate of self-employment, or who have got a higher medical or pharmaceutical education outside the Republic of Belarus), as well as persons who do not have the above education but apply for positions of specialist doctors, specialist pharmacists, who do not have work experience in the positions of a specialist doctor or specialist pharmacist.

Terms, procedure for organizing and undergoing internship, criteria according to which healthcare institutions can be bases for internship, the procedure for passing a qualification exam after internship and without internship, as well as those categories of persons who are granted the right to pass a qualification exam without internship; the terms for passing the specified exam are determined by the Instruction on the Procedure for Organizing and Undergoing Internship and (or) Passing a Qualification Exam, approved by the Decree of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, dated March 15, 2018, # 28.

The list of internship specialties is established by the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus No. 1714 dated December 31, 2021 "On the list of internship specialties, development of internship plans and programs"

The duration of the internship is:

• 12 months for interns, taking into account the granted basic leave, provided for by labor legislation;
• 5 months for pharmacist-interns.

Internship is carried out once from August 1 at the internship bases according to the organizational and methodological support of the internship and a Fixed-Term Employment Contract.

Organizational and Methodological Support of Internship:

• The following educational institutions carry out organizational and methodological support for those who have got higher medical and pharmaceutical education in the Republic of Belarus:
  Belarusian State Medical University
  Vitebsk State Medical University
  Gomel State Medical University
  Grodno State Medical University
  
• Institute for Advanced Training and Retraining of Healthcare Personnel of the Educational Institution Belarusian State Medical University provides support for those who have got a higher medical or pharmaceutical education outside the Republic of Belarus, as well as for those who do not have higher medical or pharmaceutical education.

A Fixed-Term Employment Contract is signed between the internship base and the intern doctor, intern pharmacist in the order prescribed by labor legislation.

The internship is carried out in accordance with the Curricula of the internship and the individual plan of the intern doctor, intern pharmacist. During the internship period a doctor intern or a pharmacist intern carries out practical activities within the limits of the working hour norm, determined by the positions of specialist doctors, specialist pharmacists working in the relevant specialty at the healthcare institutions. 

Based on the obtained results of the internship and (or) passing the qualification exam, the educational institution issues a Certificate of the Internship Completion and (or) Passing the Qualification Exam to the doctor-intern or the pharmacist-intern.

The following categories of individuals have the right to pass a qualification exam without completing internship:

• those in relation to whom the educational program of postgraduate education of the 1st stage (postgraduate study) is being implemented in the relevant specialty of the medical or pharmaceutical branch of science in the form of full-time education, provided that these individuals pass the exam for a Ph.D. degree in the discipline corresponding to the internship;

• those, who have successfully mastered the educational program of postgraduate education of the 1st stage (postgraduate study) in the relevant specialty of the medical or pharmaceutical branch of science on a full-time basis;

• those, who have got a Ph.D. and (or) Doctor of Medical or Pharmaceutical Sciences degree in the relevant medical or pharmaceutical specialty;

• those, who underwent clinical internship training in the specialty corresponding to the internship specialty on a full-time basis and successfully passed the qualification exam in the specialty of clinical residency;

• those, who have at least 12 months of work experience as a medical specialist in the specialty corresponding to the specialty of the internship;

• those, who have at least five months of experience as a pharmacist-specialist.

The organization and conduct of the qualification examination for such a category of individuals is carried out by Belarusian State Medical University.