Renewal of registration and CME requirements

The five-year licence

Under the 2023 Registration Regulations:

• A licence to practise is valid for five years, after which the practitioner renews it by applying to the State Medical Council (Regulation 8(i)).
• The Regulation says the renewal application “may be made before three month of expiration of the validity of licence” (Regulation 8(ii)).
• If no application is received within three months of expiry, the practitioner’s entry in the State Register is converted to inactive, and the person is not entitled to practise medicine. The inactive status is automatically reflected in the National Register (Regulation 8(iii)).
• A council’s refusal to renew can be appealed to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board, and then to the Commission, on the same terms as a refusal to register — see permanent registration (Regulation 12).

Regulation 8(i) refers to a procedure “under clause 6 (ii)”; Regulation 6 as published has no clause (ii). The 2026 draft corrects the reference to clause 6(a).

As published, Regulation 4 also provides that until the Regulations and the relevant sections are in force, “licence to practice and prevailing system of Registration shall continue”. Renewal periods and procedures that a council currently operates are recorded on that council’s page.

CME: which rule is in force

The rule in force is the 2002 Ethics Regulations. Regulation 1.2.3 reads:

A Physician should participate in professional meetings as part of Continuing Medical Education programmes, for at least 30 hours every five years, organized by reputed professional academic bodies or any other authorized organisations. The compliance of this requirement shall be informed regularly to Medical Council of India or the State Medical Councils as the case may be.

The National Medical Commission adopted the 2002 Regulations, with immediate effect, by its notification of 23 August 2023.

The 2023 rule that is not in force. The Professional Conduct Regulations of 2 August 2023 would have required at least 30 credit hours of continuing professional development every five years, with renewal of the licence every five years “after submitting documentation of CPD credit hours” (Regulation 4). The same 23 August 2023 notification held those Regulations in abeyance and stated that they “shall not be operative and effective till further Gazette Notification”.

What this means at national level. Regulation 8 of the 2023 Registration Regulations, which governs renewal, does not mention CME. The national CME rule in force is the 2002 wording above. A council may have its own credit-hour requirement for renewal under the law that governs it. Where it does, the requirement is recorded on that council’s page once verified against the council’s own documents.

What the 2026 draft would change

The draft amendments published on 11 August 2026 would, if made final:

• keep the five-year validity, with renewal by application to the concerned State Medical Council under clause 6(a)
• keep the rule that a registration with no renewal application within three months of expiry becomes inactive
• add each practitioner’s active or inactive licence status to the particulars the National Medical Register displays
• word the appeal route expressly to cover refusal of “registration & licence to practice / renewal of license to practice”

The draft does not add a CME or CPD requirement to renewal.