NHRA Bahrain Nursing Exam 2026: Pass Mark, Duration, Attempts and Rules

Almost every nurse who wants a licence in Bahrain — in a government hospital or a private clinic — must pass the Bahrain Nursing Licensure Examination (BNLE) (the exemption is for Bahraini or GCC nationals with a GCC licence), run for the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) by Prometric. NHRA's own documents answer most of the questions candidates ask: how long it is, what the pass mark is, how many attempts you get, how long a pass is valid and which other Gulf exam results NHRA accepts instead. They do not give a question count or a blueprint, and the two official sources disagree on the pass mark. This guide sets out what each source says.

NHRA licensure-examination guide; Nursing PQR §1.5; SCH Decision 29/2020; Prometric NHRA page.

NHRA's current licensure-examination guide says: "The pass mark for nursing, midwifery, and allied professions is set at 50%. The pass mark for all other professions is set at 60%." Prometric's NHRA page says "The pass grade is set at 60% for all Bahrain licensure examinations" — but the same page still cites Decision 11 of 2015, which SCH Decision 29/2020 annulled, so its text looks out of date. NHRA sets the rules, so its 50% is the better guide; aim well above both. The NHRA guide adds that "if prometric was taken from another center the pass mark will be taken according to that center".

The law gives you the first exam and "three more attempts within a period not exceeding three years starting from the date of taking the first examination" — four in all. Since Decision 38/2022, only a Bahraini applicant who fails all four may try twice more, after a training course of at least six months at an NHRA-accredited institution. For an Indian nurse, four attempts in three years is the whole allowance under the current rules — unless she is the non-Bahraini wife of a Bahraini national, whom the PQR treats as Bahraini for exam attempts, experience and discontinuity of practice. Prometric's page still shows the older wording that offered the retraining route to everyone.

This is separate from the formal exemption, which the PQR limits to "Bahraini or GCC nationals holding a valid GCC license". An Indian nurse with a DHA or Qatar licence is not exempt as such; what may help is that a passed RN Prometric for one of those authorities appears in NHRA's list of accepted results. No exemption exists for UK, US, Australian or Canadian licences.

You cannot book the BNLE from India on your own. A non-Bahraini opens an application in NHRA's Mehan system only through an invitation from a Bahrain healthcare facility ("Its like an offer letter for the purpose of NHRA application. Without it you cant apply"). Once NHRA approves the application it sends an eligibility code; you use it to book Prometric, one code per attempt, and it is valid for up to four months (Prometric). After the exam you upload the result to Mehan; NHRA's FAQ says a failed result is uploaded through "Modify" to request a retake, and the exam guide that the code is then reactivated within your allowed attempts. Whether Indian Prometric centres offer the NHRA exam could not be checked — the centre search did not load — so confirm it when you book.

NHRA's 42-profession exam list names General Nurse, Midwife and Ambulance Nurse, but not Practical Nurse or Specialist Nurse — while the PQR says "all nursing professional applicants must pass NHRA's BNLE". NHRA does not say which paper a practical or specialist nurse sits, so ask NHRA (or your employer's licensing officer) before you book. Exam codes for the nursing papers are not published either.

NHRA publishes a reference list rather than a blueprint — nine titles, taken, NHRA says, from the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties list, "intended as a study guide only" and not the sole source of questions. They cover fundamentals, medical-surgical nursing, perioperative care, maternal-newborn nursing and care planning. The study-plan guide turns them into a schedule.