MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA

What MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA does

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) is a federal statutory regulatory body established under the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap M8 (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004), with origins in the 1963 Medical and Dental Practitioners Act and the 1988 Military Decree No. 23 that renamed the predecessor Nigeria Medical Council. It is the sole statutory authority empowered to license, register, and discipline medical practitioners, dental surgeons, and alternative medicine practitioners (homeopathy, naturopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy) across all 36 Nigerian states and the FCT, and additionally regulates clinical laboratory practice in pathology fields.

MDCN operates a multi-portal digital platform architecture. The core MDCN Doctor Portal (portal.mdcn.gov.ng) handles practitioner registration, annual practicing license renewal, additional qualification registration, life license applications, certificate of good standing issuance, and temporary/limited registration. Specialized portals support centralized housemanship placement across 48 federal and 81 other accredited hospitals (housemanship.mdcn.gov.ng, launched April 2021), Continuing Professional Development training and tracking (cpd.portal.mdcn.gov.ng, launched April 2026), medical/dental school accreditation (school.portal.mdcn.gov.ng), hospital accreditation (hospital.portal.mdcn.gov.ng), and foreign-graduate assessment examinations. Primary-source credential verification is outsourced to DataFlow Group via a dedicated MDCN portal. All payments route through the government-approved Remita platform. The platform collectively manages the practitioner lifecycle from student indexing through retirement, supported by an Inspectorate Department (active since 2021) and a Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel plus Disciplinary Tribunal for enforcement.

Revenue is generated through mandatory annual practicing license fees (N20,000 for practitioners under 10 years experience, N40,000 for 10+ years, ~N10,000 life license for senior practitioners), one-time registration and assessment examination fees, and CPD provider accreditation fees (N20,000 application, N1,000,000 independent provider visitation, N200,000 specialty society recognition with N100,000 annual renewal). Late payment attracts a 100% surcharge, and non-payment beyond two years can result in criminal penalties with fines up to 10 times the prescribed fee. The go-to-market model is mandatory self-service via the digital portal ecosystem, supplemented by five zonal offices (Abuja HQ, Kaduna, Lagos, Ilorin, Enugu) and direct email communications. Customer segments are horizontal and exhaustive: every registered medical and dental practitioner in Nigeria is a fee-paying user by legal requirement.

Name

MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA

Legal name

Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria

Website

https://mdcn.gov.ng

Company type

Private

Founded year

1963

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) is the federal statutory body that licenses, registers, and disciplines all medical, dental, and alternative medicine practitioners across Nigeria, operating a multi-portal digital platform for registration, licensing, housemanship placement, and continuing professional development oversight.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Professional Regulation

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Licensing, Accreditation & Credentialing Boards (HLAJACAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Regulatory Compliance, Licensing & Enforcement (Public Health) (HLAJAMAE)

Keywords

• Medical practitioner licensing
• Dental professional regulation
• Healthcare credential verification
• Continuing professional development
• Housemanship placement services

Headquarters

HQ city

Abuja, Federal Capital Territory

HQ country

Nigeria

HQ region

Africa

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Annual Practicing License Fees: Mandatory annual license fees paid by all registered medical practitioners, dental surgeons, and alternative medicine practitioners for the right to practice in Nigeria
2. Registration and Assessment Fees: Fees collected for provisional registration, full registration, additional qualification registration, assessment examinations for foreign-trained graduates, and certificate of good standing
3. CPD Provider Accreditation Fees: Application and accreditation fees from institutions seeking to become Continuing Professional Development providers (N20,000 application fee, N1,000,000 visitation fee for independent providers, N200,000 for specialty societies)

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

MDCN is the statutory federal regulatory body that registers, licenses, and disciplines medical practitioners, dental surgeons, and alternative medicine practitioners in Nigeria under the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap M8. It maintains the official Master Register of practitioners, operates centralized housemanship placement across 129 accredited hospitals, accredits medical and dental schools, conducts assessment examinations for foreign-trained graduates, administers the Continuing Professional Development programme, and enforces professional conduct through the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel and Disciplinary Tribunal.

Product overview

MDCN operates as a multi-portal digital platform architecture serving Nigeria's medical and dental regulatory ecosystem. The core platform is the MDCN Doctor Portal (portal.mdcn.gov.ng), which handles all practitioner registration, licensing, and certification services. Supporting this are specialized portals for housemanship placement (housemanship.mdcn.gov.ng), CPD training (cpd.portal.mdcn.gov.ng), school accreditation (school.portal.mdcn.gov.ng), hospital accreditation (hospital.portal.mdcn.gov.ng), and assessment examinations (portal.mdcn.gov.ng/assessment-exam). The primary source verification is outsourced to DataFlow. All payment processing flows through the Remita platform. The ecosystem collectively manages the entire lifecycle of medical and dental practitioners from student indexing through provisional/full registration, housemanship training, continuing professional development, and annual license renewal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Practitioner Registration and Annual Practising Licence Service Registration of medical, dental, and alternative medicine practitioners (provisional, full, additional qualification, temporary/limited) and issuance of annual practising licences and life licences, mandatory under Nigerian law for anyone practising medicine, dentistry, or alternative medicine in Nigeria.
• Centralized Housemanship Placement Service Centralized posting, payment, and coordination of medical and dental house officers training across 48 federal government hospitals and 81 other accredited centres (State Government, Military, and Private hospitals) for provisionally registered doctors.
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme Continuing Professional Development programme requiring 20 credit units annually (40 for biennial renewal), with accredited CPD providers delivering activities that practitioners must complete to maintain their licence.
• Medical and Dental School Accreditation Service Accreditation of undergraduate medical and dental training institutions in Nigeria, managed through a dedicated online portal and based on MDCN guidelines on minimum standards for undergraduate medical and dental education.
• Hospital and Housemanship Centre Accreditation Service Accreditation of hospitals and housemanship training centres providing postgraduate medical and dental training, delivered through a dedicated online portal and verified through MDCN Inspectorate activities.
• Assessment Examination for Foreign-Trained Graduates Statutory assessment examination for foreign-trained Nigerian medical and dental graduates and expatriate practitioners seeking registration in Nigeria, administered through the MDCN Assessment Examination portal with results publicly released.
• Primary Source Verification (DataFlow) Service Primary source credential verification for all registered medical and dental practitioners, expatriate practitioners seeking temporary registration in Nigeria, and foreign-trained Nigerian graduates seeking registration — operated via DataFlow Group's dedicated MDCN portal.
• Professional Discipline and Complaints Service Complaints submission, investigation, and disciplinary enforcement service operated through the Professional Discipline Department, the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel (MDPIP), and the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal — empowered to investigate alleged professional misconduct and publish sanctioned doctors lists.
• Master Register of Practitioners Continuously maintained official Master Register of all registered medical and dental practitioners in Nigeria, including their qualifications and specialties, updated and published regularly by MDCN.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Strengths5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/medical-and-dental-council-of-nigeria

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA