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Point Requirements for Doctors

CME Requirements

Please refer to the summary table below for the CME requirements for various applications.

Application Type

CME Requirements

Qualifying Period (QP)

PC Renewal for doctors holding a 2-year PC from 1 January 2024

50 CME points, of which 20% or 10 points shall be core points in each of their registered specialty and/or in Family Medicine; and 10% or 5 points shall be from Ethics core programmes.


Note: For doctors with PCs which do not start on 1 Jan, their CME requirements will be adjusted accordingly.


Current PC validity period.


e.g.

PCs starting on 1 Jan

Current PC (2 year) and QP:

1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2024


Current PC (1 year) and QP:

1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023


PCs not starting on 1 Jan

Current PC (2 year) and QP:

1 May 2023 to 31 Dec 2024


Current PC (1 year) and QP:

1 May 2023 to 31 Dec 2023


PC Renewal for doctors holding a 1-year PC from 1 January 2024
25 CME points, of which 20% or 5 points shall be core points in each of their registered specialty and/or in Family Medicine.

Note: For doctors with PCs which do not start on 1 Jan, their CME requirements will be adjusted accordingly.

PC Renewal for doctors holding a 1-year from 1 January 2025

25 CME points, of which 20% or 5 points shall be core points in each of their registered specialty and/or in Family Medicine; and 10% or 3 points shall be from Ethics core programmes.


Note: For doctors with PCs which do not start on 1 Jan, their CME requirements will be adjusted accordingly.


* PC Renewal for doctors in Reduced Practice holding a 2-year lower-fee PC and on Lower CME requirements

20 CME points

* PC Renewal for doctors in Reduced Practice holding a 1-year lower-fee PC and on Lower CME requirements


10 CME points

(Before 1 January 2026)

New PC / Resumption of Practice

(for doctors who are already on SMC’s Register)

 


50 CME points, of which 20% or 10 points shall be core points in each of their registered specialty and/or in Family Medicine.


24 months prior to the PC application date

 

(On or after 1 January 2026)

New PC / Resumption of Practice

(for doctors who are already on SMC’s Register)


 

50 CME points, of which 20% or 10 points shall be core points in each of their registered specialty and/or in Family Medicine; and 10% or 5 points shall be from Ethics core programmes.


* Note:
Doctors who are in practice (whether locally or overseas) are not eligible for lower-fee PC and lower CME requirements. Only doctors who are not practising because they have retired or are doing full-time administrative work, etc. may be considered as doctors in reduced practice and can apply for lower-fee PC and lower CME requirements. Click here for more information on doctors in reduced practice


Mandatory Medical Ethics CME (MME CME)


Medical Ethics would be required for Practising Certificate (PC) renewal in 2026. Doctors can submit the required Mandatory Medical Ethics CME (MME CME) core points from 1 January 2024 for those whose PCs end on 31 December 2023 and from 1 January 2025 for those whose PCs end on 31 December 2024. Doctors who are renewing their PCs two yearly are required to have 5 ethics core points and those who wish to renew for one year are required to have 3 ethics core points. More information regarding MME CME can be found under the “Frequently Asked Questions”.
 


CME Core Points Requirements

Doctors registered as Specialists with SMC

Doctors who are accredited and registered as specialists in the following specialties / subspecialties will be required to fulfil core points in their respective specialties / subspecialties as indicated in the table below.

Specialties

Subspecialties

Anaesthesiology

Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Palliative Medicine

Cardiology

Occupational Medicine

Intensive Care Medicine

Cardiothoracic Surgery

Ophthalmology

Sports Medicine

Dermatology

Orthopaedic Surgery

Neonatology

Diagnostic Radiology

Otorhinolaryngology / Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) Surgery

Aviation Medicine

Emergency Medicine

Paediatric Medicine

Paediatric Cardiology

Endocrinology

Paediatric Surgery

Paediatric Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology

Pathology

Paediatric Haematology & Oncology

General Surgery

Plastic Surgery

Paediatric Intensive Care

Geriatric Medicine

Psychiatry

Paediatric Nephrology

Haematology

Public Health


Hand Surgery

Radiation Oncology


Infectious Disease

Rehabilitation Medicine


Internal Medicine

Renal Medicine


Medical Oncology

Respiratory Medicine


Neurology

Rheumatology


Neurosurgery

Urology


Nuclear Medicine




Doctors on the Family Physicians Register

Doctors who are accredited and registered as Family Physicians will be required to fulfil core points in Family Medicine

Doctors with multiple registrations

Doctors who are registered in 2 or more branches of medicine in the Register of Specialists and / or Register of Family Physicians have to obtain 20% of the requisite number of CME points in each of those branches of medicine.

e.g.

If the practitioner is registered in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, he must obtain at least 10 points from programmes in Internal Medicine and at least 10 points from programmes in Cardiology

If the practitioner is registered in the specialty of Internal Medicine and in the Family Physicians Register, he must obtain at least 10 points from programmes in Internal Medicine and at least 10 points from programmes in Family Medicine

Doctors on the Register of Medical Practitioners only

Doctors are required to fulfil core points in Family Medicine unless they are exempted from the core point requirements relevant to their field of practice. Please refer to the summary table Compulsory CME and Core Points Requirement [DOCX, 17KB] for more information on the core point requirement for specific groups of doctors.

Personal CME Report

Doctors are advised to check their personal CME Report regularly to monitor their CME point status for their current qualifying period. They can do so by logging into their CME account via the SMC Online System.

Doctors are encouraged to attend CME events well before the end of their CME qualifying period so that they can have their PC renewal applications processed in time and late PC application fees will not be incurred.