Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates
Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates
ECFMG, a division of Intealth, partners with the Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone (MDCSL or the Council) to primary-source verify medical credentials of internationally educated physicians who are applying for registration to practice medicine in Sierra Leone. If you are applying for registration with the Council after June 1, 2025 and you obtained your basic medical qualification in a country other than Sierra Leone, you must have certain required medical credentials verified through EPIC.
Please note: At this time, ECFMG only verifies medical credentials for physician applicants to Sierra Leone. If you are an applicant to the Council for dentistry, you should not use this service.
To have your credentials verified through EPIC, complete the following steps:
To be eligible for registration with the Council, your medical school should be listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, available at www.wdoms.org .
See Getting Started with EPIC for complete instructions. Once ECFMG has processed your request and established your EPIC Account, ECFMG will e-mail you login information so you can access your EPIC Account.
See Confirming Your Identity with EPIC for detailed information. Confirming your identity with EPIC requires you to submit an EPIC Identification Form (EIF). Once this form has been accepted by ECFMG, you will be able to upload credentials required by the Council to EPIC for primary-source verification.
Log in to your EPIC Account, and upload the required credentials for primary-source verification. See Credentials Required by the MDCSL below to determine which credentials you need to upload. As you upload each credential, be sure to select the Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone to receive an EPIC Report once the credential is verified. Because the Council has requested to be notified when their applicants’ credentials have been sent for verification through EPIC, a notification will be provided to the Council when your credential is sent for verification. This notification will include a copy of the credential that you have submitted for verification.
Please note: It is very important that you select the Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone to receive an EPIC Report for each required qualification, as you upload it. If you do, the Council will be notified when your credential is sent for verification, and an EPIC Report on that credential will be automatically sent to the Council when the credential is verified. If you do not select the Council to receive an EPIC Report on a credential at the time you upload it, you will be required to send an EPIC Report to the Council once your credential is verified.
Once uploaded, you can check the status of your credentials at any time by logging in to your EPIC Account. See Using EPIC for more information.
Note that if your credentials have already been primary-source verified by ECFMG for ECFMG Certification or through ECFMG’s International Credentials Services (EICS), you do not need to upload the credentials that were previously verified by ECFMG. These credentials will be added to your EPIC Portfolio at no cost. Simply provide your USMLE/ECFMG ID and/or EICS ID when you establish your EPIC Account. ECFMG will review your file typically within 10 business days; if your file is acceptable, ECFMG will add your previously verified credentials to your EPIC Portfolio.
ECFMG will notify you by e-mail as each credential is verified; you can also monitor your EPIC Account to check the statuses of your verification requests.
If you selected the Council to receive an EPIC Report when a credential was uploaded, that report will be sent automatically when the credential is verified.
If you did not select the Council to receive an EPIC Report at the time you uploaded the credential, you must go to the “My Reports” tab in your EPIC Account and request an EPIC Report for the Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone.
Once all of your required credentials have been verified and you have requested that EPIC Reports be sent to the Council, you can submit your application to the Council. You should not submit your application to the Council until all of your required credentials have been sent for verification.
For more information on applying to the Council for registration to practice medicine in Sierra Leone, please visit https://mdcsierraleone.org or contact the Council at +232 (76) 912430, +232 (30) 750097, or [email protected].
The credentials required in support of your application to the Council are as follows:
Instructions for Submitting a CGS
A Certificate or Letter of Good Standing (CGS) confirms that you currently hold or previously held a license/registration to practice medicine in good standing from your country of graduation or practice location.
Please note: A CGS must have been issued within six months of the date you apply to the Council. If this requirement is not met, you will need to request a new CGS.
Under Option 1, the CGS must be sent to ECFMG directly by the appropriate authority and demonstrate that you are or were licensed in good standing. If this requirement is not met, you will need to request a new CGS. Once we receive confirmation of your good standing, we will use this confirmation to complete your verification request and report on your good standing to the Council.
Note for a CGS issued to ECFMG in a language other than English: If your CGS is in a language other than English, and an acceptable English translation was not included with your CGS in the correspondence from the medical regulatory authority, EPIC will obtain an acceptable translation from Straker Translations. You are responsible for payment of the Straker translation fee.
To submit payment to Straker Translations so that EPIC may obtain a translation of your CGS, you must follow these steps:
After you upload the CGS, ECFMG will primary-source verify it with the issuing authority to complete your verification request and send a report on your good standing to the Council.
If the medical regulatory authority will not send confirmation of good standing directly to ECFMG or to you, or if there is no medical regulatory authority in your country, please contact us at [email protected] for assistance. Please include “Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone: CGS” and your EPIC ID in the e-mail’s subject line.
If you have questions regarding the credentials you are required to submit, please visit https://mdcsierraleone.org or contact the Council at +232 (76) 912430, +232 (30) 750097, or [email protected].
For more information on the credentials verified through EPIC, see Using EPIC.
If you have any questions regarding EPIC and the EPIC verification process, please contact us.
If you have questions regarding the Council’s application processes, please visit https://mdcsierraleone.org or contact the Council at +232 (76) 912430, +232 (30) 750097, or [email protected].
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Please also read the general Frequently Asked Questions for Physicians.
1. I am applying to the Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone (MDCSL) for registration; do I need to use EPIC?
Medical graduates applying for registration to the MDCSL who obtained their basic medical qualification outside of Sierra Leone will need to create an EPIC Account and have their credentials primary-source verified through EPIC.
2. Which credentials do I need to submit to the Council through EPIC?
The credentials required in support of your application to the Council are as follows:
If you have questions regarding the credentials you are required to submit, please visit https://mdcsierraleone.org or contact the Council at +232 (76) 912430 / +232 (30) 750097, or [email protected].
3. How far in advance of applying for registration to the Council do I need to upload my credentials to EPIC?
We recommend that you create an EPIC Account and upload your credentials to EPIC as soon as possible after you have decided to apply to the Council. Through EPIC, your credentials are verified directly with the issuing institution. The time required to complete the verification of credentials varies and depends on a number of factors, including the time it takes for the issuing institution to respond to our verification requests. You should not apply to the Council until all of your required credentials have been sent for verification through EPIC.
1. Will I have access to my medical credentials after I apply to the Council?
Yes. The credentials that you upload to EPIC remain available to you as part of your EPIC Portfolio. You can use EPIC to send copies of these credentials along with reports verifying their authenticity to organizations worldwide at any time throughout your career.
2. Will the Council have access to my EPIC Portfolio?
No. The Council will not have direct access to your EPIC Portfolio. The Council will have access only to the credentials (qualifications), notifications, and verification reports that you make available to them through EPIC.
3. I requested that EPIC Reports on my verified credentials be provided to the Council. How do I know if the Council received the verification reports and copies of my credentials?
Once your credentials have been verified and EPIC Reports have been sent to the Council, the Council will have access to the reports and copies of your credentials through the EPIC Report Portal. If you need to confirm whether the Council has accessed your reports, contact the Council at +232 (76) 912430, +232 (30) 750097, or [email protected].
4. Do I need to use EPIC when applying to the Council if my credentials have already been verified by ECFMG for a purpose other than applying to the Council?
If your credentials have already been primary-source verified by ECFMG for ECFMG Certification or through ECFMG’s International Credentials Services (EICS), you will need to create an EPIC Account and use EPIC to provide your credentials and verification reports to the Council. However, you will not need to upload the credentials that were previously verified by ECFMG; they will be added to your EPIC Account at no cost. Simply provide your USMLE/ECFMG ID and/or EICS ID when you establish your EPIC Account. ECFMG will review your file typically within 10 business days; if your file is acceptable, ECFMG will add your previously verified credentials to your EPIC Portfolio.
5. If I have questions or problems regarding EPIC, should I contact EPIC or the Council?
If you have questions regarding EPIC’s services—such as creating an EPIC Account, uploading your credentials, managing your portfolio, the verification process, sending verification reports, or fees—please contact us.
If you have questions regarding applying to the Council—such as necessary documentation, required qualifications, or registration categories— contact the Council at +232 (76) 912430, +232 (30) 750097, or [email protected].
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[Last update: May 12, 2025]
