The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) stands as the overseeing authority governing medical practice and its regulation within Nigeria. Within this framework, a medical practitioner can hold either a provisional or a full license.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) stands as the overseeing authority governing medical practice and its regulation within Nigeria. Within this framework, a medical practitioner can hold either a provisional or a full license.
A provisional license is granted to doctors fresh out of medical school. However, to attain a fully registered status, allowing for a permanent license to practice medicine in Nigeria, one must successfully complete a year-long period of supervised medical practice, commonly referred to as internship or housemanship.
This phase should occur within a Hospital approved by the council for such training in Nigeria. You can find the list of approved health facilities here.
During this comprehensive program, doctors are required to rotate through four key departments: Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology (Hence the Four F-forms and Four E-forms). Each rotation within these departments spans three months.
Upon the successful conclusion of this mandatory one-year program, doctors are eligible to receive a permanent practice license, enabling them to engage in independent medical practice within Nigeria.
So A Big Congratulations to you, on successfully completing your housemanship in a single piece, we can both agree that it was not easy at all and you cannot wait to get your Permanent License.
IF you wish to get your Full Registration after house job fast, then you need to always sign your F-forms while leaving a unit (like grading forms) or a department
You must have fully completed your house job (12-Months) in an approved center and Signed all your forms ( F-forms (council, doctor and hospital), E-form(4) and B-form(1), It is advice to start signing your F forms early as the house job is ongoing.
A. login to MDCN portal here MDCN PORTAL
B. Click on Doctor Access and Put your login details correctly.
C. From your Dashboard click on the text that say apply for full Registration as shown in the image below.
D. Then it will lead you to where you can upload the different forms as shown below, Please make that your start date and End date of housemanshp is correct and corresponds with the information on your F-forms and Cover letter.
1. You need a cover Letter, Which Will be issued by The head of Clinical Services or the Cmac, Depending on your center
2. Then Upload the scanned copies( ONLY the council F-forms) of the F-forms (4) and E-forms (4) , B-form and Cover letter to your account at the mdcn portal @ portal.mdcn.gov.ng, Below is a scanned sample of these forms
Note: Attach your passport to each form, the B-form requires teo passports, So apparently you will need about 10 passports and it must be white background.
3. You Need a scanned copy of your Original Degree Certificate, Which you should get from your institution.
4. Then Make Payment for the Full Registration (license) (61k), Insurance (7.5k) and Annual License (10k plus extra 10k if your annual license is already expired) from the Portal using your Debit card (visa, MasterCard etc)
Kindly Note the following:
No use of Tpex , or Multilation or Cancelations is allowed in the council copies of Form F, Form E, and Form B
Occupational Health Physician, Blogger, Docpreneur. Beyond my professional role, I am the founder of Doclumina.org (formerly TheyHaveLeftYouBehind.net), a platform supporting thousands of Nigerian medical graduates with housemanship and career guidance. I am passionate about digital health, workplace wellness, and advancing public health practice through innovation, mentorship, and global collaboration
Wow, I remember trying to get my full registration last year — things like keeping your start and end dates consistent across all forms really gave me headache. Seeing them emphasized here is reassuring. I’ll be bookmarking this for when my turn comes (or for my juniors). Thanks for putting this together!
Thank you so much for this detailed guide! It demystifies the MDCN full registration process really well — especially the parts about ensuring all forms are correctly signed, and the order in which documents should be assembled. This will be super helpful for fresh house officers who want to avoid common pitfalls.
Great write-up. One thing I was wondering: when you mention “sign your F-forms while leaving a unit,” do you mean that the signing should happen as you finish each rotation rather than waiting until the end of the house job? Also, is there any grace period if some documents are delayed, or will the portal reject incomplete uploads outright? — Dr. Tunde A.