Abu Dhabi: After a year-long unsuccessful hunt for jobs in the healthcare sector, two UAE national brothers who are qualified dentists have in desperation applied to Tanmia for any job, even that of public relations officer.

Mousa and Sohail Al Zobaidi claim they have been forced to look for other work due to discrimination in the workplace.

Even though they have a Masters in dentistry they have failed to find jobs in either the public or private sectors, they told Gulf News. One brother is now training to work as a TV announcer, but the other is still jobless.

They were also denied the right to be trained and obtain a licence to practice their profession, they said.

Mousa and Sohail Al Zobaidi told Gulf News yesterday they had received no response to their year-long search for work.

"All we got were empty promises," said Mousa, 30, an orthodontist.

He graduated from Dnepropetrovsk University in the Ukraine in 2001.

He obtained his masters degree in 2004 from the same university and got his degrees recognised by the education ministry.

"Isn't it discrimination against national dentists to employ hundreds of foreigners and leave citizens unemployed?" asked Mousa Al Zobaidi.

"We found later many Ukrainian doctors are employed by government and local health authorities," he said, adding it was not where they studied that was the problem.

At the Ministry of Health, we were told there were no vacancies but at least we got an unpaid training period of two months. But the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services did not offer us even training to allow us to obtain permission to practice in a hospital or open our own clinic, he said.

"It is a waste of resources to spend hundreds of thousands of dirhams on two doctors with masters in dentistry and fail to offer them suitable jobs. Our education cost us approximately $150,000 or more than half a million dirhams."

Sohail, 29, also holds a masters in paediatric dentistry and claims he is the first UAE citizen to hold this degree in paediatric dentistry.

"We registered with Tanmia seeking any job, even that of a public relations officer."

He said he was still unemployed, but Mousa was being trained to work as an announcer with Dubai TV.

Tanmia provides tips for unemployed

The National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia), has released a guide for UAE National jobseekers to assist them in finding suitable jobs.

The 92-page guide, which can be obtained from Tanmia's offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, presents a detailed explanation on various aspects of successful jobseeking, such as creating impressive resumes, targeting the right job opportunities, interview skills, work ethic, and the importance of on-the-job training.

It emphasises the importance of career planning and highlights various job search tools. It also features a list of companies with job opportunities for nationals.