Brazil Makes Enamed Mandatory for New Doctors

Overview

• The law, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, makes passing the Enamed final evaluation a condition for registration with regional medical councils and applies to students who began medical school on or after June 19, 2026.
• Students will face three national tests at the end of the 2nd, 4th and 6th years, with the first two designed to track learning and the final exam carrying decisive weight for licensing.
• A National Commission of eight members—four from the Federal Council of Medicine, two from the Ministry of Education and two from the Ministry of Health—will define scores, weights and rules while the Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais (Inep) continues to administer the examinations.
• Graduates who fail to reach required proficiency can obtain an Inscrição de Egresso to work in technical or research roles but may not perform clinical care, and they may retake the final exam in later editions to gain full registration.
• Enamed results will feed ministry oversight of medical schools, allowing measures such as blocking new class openings or closing courses after repeated poor evaluations, and the new model is scheduled for first full application in 2028 once the commission sets operational criteria.