SCFHS CPD Hours and Registration Renewal: A Practitioner's Guide

Two bodies stand between a qualified practitioner and lawful practice in Saudi Arabia. SCFHS, the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, classifies and registers individual practitioners. MOH issues the practising licence. Article 2 of the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions makes SCFHS registration a condition of the MOH licence, so if your registration lapses, your licence cannot be issued or renewed.

Classification is where SCFHS reviews and authenticates your qualifications and experience and gives you a professional category. It can be applied for from outside the Kingdom.

• Foreign qualifications and experience letters must be checked by the verification company SCFHS names, DataFlow. Classification cannot be completed on an academic record alone.
• Classification exams are booked through Prometric and grouped into Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and Medical Science.
• Re-Classification is the route for moving up a level, for example from specialist to consultant, or changing specialty.

Registration then records you in the SCFHS database so you can practise, and needs lawful residence in Saudi Arabia.

• SCFHS registration is valid for two years.
• You can apply to re-register from three months before expiry.
• A late fine applies if re-registration is not completed within 31 days after expiry.
• If registration has been expired for more than a year, a new registration is generally needed.

Put the expiry date and the date three months earlier in your diary now. Your MOH licence renewal depends on a valid registration, so a late re-registration can hold up your licence as well.

SCFHS's re-registration requirements list these hours:

The Mumaris Plus FAQ points consultants to the requirements page for their figure; we have not found a separate consultant number there. The pages link the hours to each re-registration application, which suggests a two-year cycle, but SCFHS's provider manual also refers to a yearly threshold without giving a number. If you are unsure which applies to you, check in Mumaris Plus or with the SCFHS contact centre on 920019393.

If you have not completed the required hours, SCFHS renews your registration for one year only. The re-registration page says this concession is available once, counted from your registration date. After that, you will need the full hours.

Treat the concession as a safety net, not a plan. Spreading learning across the cycle is easier on your rota and gives you time to choose activities that actually fit your work.

Besides the hours, SCFHS lists these requirements for re-registration:

• An employment letter from personnel affairs or the facility's representative, issued within three months before you apply, confirming clinical practice in your specialty, your professional category and your start date.
• Your national ID or Iqama.
• A medical report, only if you are over 65.
• Primary-source verification for any documents not submitted before, such as a new foreign qualification, a professional registration certificate or a foreign experience letter.

Hours from activities that carry SCFHS CPD hours inside the Kingdom are entered by the provider. Once the provider confirms your attendance on the Mustamir platform, the hours appear in Mumaris Plus automatically; you can check them with the free View CPD Hours service.

Only CPD providers SCFHS has authorised, running activities SCFHS has reviewed, can award SCFHS hours in this way. SCFHS also does not credit a practitioner for two activities on the same date, except conference side activities, or twice for the same activity.

Hours earned abroad, and credits from self-learning activities, can be submitted to SCFHS through the Recognition of CPD Hours service on Mumaris Plus.

• Fee: SAR 100, paid through SADAD.
• Time: 30 business days.
• SCFHS decides based on relevance and depth for your field.
• Documents must be genuine, in your name, clearly related to your specialty and in Arabic or English. Certificates for activities held abroad must show the country.

SCFHS lists many activity types it will consider, including conferences, workshops and training courses, simulation, published papers, books with an ISBN, posters, teaching and training, journal clubs, quality improvement projects, writing or reviewing CPD content and health volunteering.

Our courses do not carry SCFHS CPD hours and do not appear in Mumaris Plus automatically. SCFHS decides how any learning counts towards your registration. You can apply to SCFHS to have learning recognised through the Recognition of CPD Hours service, and the decision is for SCFHS.

Each certificate of completion shows your name, the course title, the study time and the date. If you apply for recognition, SCFHS will look at the certificate alongside its own criteria. Practitioners also use our courses for reasons that have nothing to do with hours: to prepare for a committee, to answer a complaint, or to fill a gap in their knowledge of Saudi rules.

• Apply to renew your MOH licence at least one month before it expires.
• Your facility applies for, renews and transfers your licence on the Health Licensing Portal on Seha, and SCFHS data is pulled in automatically.
• Physicians and dentists need a malpractice insurance certificate to license or renew, under Article 41.
• A licence may be cancelled if, for example, you do not practise within six months of issue or change specialty without permission.

• CPD and CME: SCFHS uses both; physicians tend to say CME, other professions CPD.
• Mumaris Plus: the SCFHS portal, also written Mumaris+.
• Mustamir: the SCFHS platform where providers record activities and attendance.
• Seha: the MOH platform for licensing. Sehhaty is a different app, for patients.
• Re-registration: the Saudi term for renewing registration. There is no separate revalidation process like the one in the UK.

1. Note your registration expiry and your licence expiry.
2. Check your current hours in Mumaris Plus.
3. Work out the gap for your category.
4. Choose activities that carry SCFHS hours for most of the gap.
5. Keep certificates for anything you may submit for recognition, with dates, hours and the country shown.
6. Leave time before expiry in case a recognition decision takes the full 30 business days.