Doctor Profile Pages: What Singapore Clinics Can Show Under SMC Rules

On most specialist clinic websites, the doctor profile pages are among the most visited pages on the site. Patients want to know who they will see. GPs look up the specialist before referring. And increasingly, AI assistants read these pages when someone asks "which orthopaedic surgeon in Novena does sports injuries?"

They are also where we find the most compliance issues. A single word such as "specialist" or "leading" can be a problem, and it is usually written in good faith by someone who simply didn't know.

From this guide, you will learn:

• Which rules apply to doctor profiles in Singapore
• How to handle specialist titles and qualifications correctly
• What to include, and what to leave out
• How to structure the page so patients, Google and AI assistants all understand it

Which rules apply

Three sets of rules overlap on a doctor profile:

• SMC's Ethical Code and Ethical Guidelines. The Singapore Medical Council sets how doctors may present themselves and their services, including in publicity. The current edition, and its accompanying handbook, is on SMC's website.
• The Medical Registration Act. The Medical Registration Act sets up the registers, including the Specialist Register, which is where the rules on specialist titles come from.
• The HCSA advertising rules. If the profile sits on a licensed clinic's website, the Healthcare Services (Advertisement) Regulations 2021 apply to it, just as they apply to the clinic's ads. See our guide to HCSA advertising rules.

I am not a lawyer, and these documents are updated from time to time. Treat this guide as a practical starting point and check the current text for anything you are unsure of.

Specialist titles

This is the one to get right. In Singapore, only doctors registered on the Specialist Register may be called specialists or use a specialty title such as "cardiologist", "dermatologist" or "orthopaedic surgeon".

A few situations we see often:

• A GP with a strong interest in an area. The profile can describe what they do, for example "sees patients for skin conditions including eczema and acne". It should not call them a "skin specialist" or use wording that implies specialist accreditation.
• A doctor with overseas specialist training who isn't on the Singapore Specialist Register. The overseas qualification may or may not be registrable. Don't use a specialist title on the strength of it; check with SMC.
• A family physician. Doctors on SMC's Register of Family Physicians may use that title. Other GPs should describe themselves as general practitioners or doctors.

The simplest check is the doctor's own entry in the Professional Registration System. If the page says something the register doesn't support, change the page.

The same principle applies to dentists. Titles such as "orthodontist" are reserved for dentists registered as specialists with the Singapore Dental Council.

Qualifications and experience

List the doctor's qualifications as they appear on their SMC registration, in the same form. For example, the basic medical degree, then postgraduate qualifications and specialist accreditation.

Some practical points:

• Unregistered qualifications. Certificates from short courses, diplomas that SMC doesn't register, and "fellowships" from bodies that anyone can join are the grey area. Check SMC's current guidance before publishing them.
• Years of experience. A factual statement such as "has practised since 2008" is generally fine.
• Hospital appointments. Current appointments, stated accurately, help patients understand where the doctor works. Keep them up to date; an appointment that ended two years ago is misleading.
• Procedure counts, awards and media features. These can read as claims of superiority. If you use them, they must be accurate and verifiable, and I would check them against the current guidelines first.

Words to avoid

Superlatives and comparisons are out, both under SMC's guidance and under HCSA rules. On doctor profiles, these creep in through well-meaning biography writing. Watch for:

• "Renowned", "leading", "top", "pioneer", "one of the best"
• "Highly sought-after", "trusted by thousands"
• "Expert in" when used to imply more than the registration supports
• Anything that promises or implies an outcome, such as "helps patients become pain-free"

Replace them with plain facts. "Dr Tan's practice focuses on knee and shoulder injuries, including sports injuries and ligament tears" tells a patient more than "a leading sports surgeon" ever will.

And no testimonials. Not on the profile, not in a quotes carousel under the photo, not as a Google rating badge. Patients can leave reviews on Google; they just can't be reproduced in the clinic's own advertising.

What a good profile includes

Here is the structure I would use for most clinics. It works for patients skimming on their phone, and it gives search engines clear facts.

1. Name and title, exactly as registered, with specialist title only if applicable.
2. A clear photo of the doctor, taken professionally if possible.
3. Areas of practice: the conditions they see and the procedures they perform, in patient language.
4. Qualifications as registered.
5. Current appointments and professional memberships, where accurate and permitted.
6. Languages spoken. In Singapore this matters. A patient's parent who prefers Mandarin, Malay, Tamil or a dialect will look for it.
7. Clinic locations and hours where the doctor sees patients.
8. How to book, including whether a referral is needed and whether the clinic accepts MediSave or Integrated Shield Plan claims where relevant.

A short, factual introduction written in the first person by the doctor can also help, as long as it follows the same rules. Patients respond to a sentence about why the doctor chose their field. They don't respond to adjectives.

The doctor's MCR number

Every doctor on the Singapore Medical Council's register has a registration number, usually called the MCR number. Anyone can look a doctor up on SMC's online Register, by full or partial name or by MCR number, and SMC says only doctors with a valid practising certificate appear in the results.

No rule I know of requires a clinic to print the MCR number on a doctor's profile, but I recommend it. It is a plain, verifiable fact, it lets patients and referrers confirm who they are seeing in a few seconds, and SMC itself warns about people impersonating registered doctors and tells the public to check the Register. A single line, "SMC registration (MCR) number" followed by the number and a link to the search page, does the job. Use the doctor's actual number, copied from the Register, never typed from memory.

Mistakes we see often

Most issues on doctor profiles aren't deliberate. They creep in over time. The ones that come up again and again:

• Copied hospital biographies. A biography written for a hospital directory or conference programme gets pasted onto the clinic site, superlatives and all. Rewrite it for the clinic, don't copy it.
• "Specialist" in the page title or meta description. The visible page may be correct, but the search result snippet says "skin specialist" for a GP. Check what Google shows, not just what the page shows.
• Old titles. A doctor who has since left a hospital appointment, or changed roles, still has the old title online.
• Social media bios. The website is carefully worded, but the doctor's Instagram or clinic TikTok says "top aesthetic doctor". The same rules apply there.
• Ghost profiles. Doctors who no longer practise at the clinic are still listed, which misleads patients and confuses search engines.

Photos and videos deserve a mention too. A friendly professional photo and a short video of the doctor explaining how they approach a first consultation help patients feel they know who they'll see. Keep the video to the process and the doctor's approach, not patient stories or results.

Profiles for search and AI

Doctor profiles are also where a lot of specialist search traffic lands. People search the doctor's name after a referral, or a condition plus an area. A few things help:

• One page per doctor, with its own URL, rather than all doctors on one "Our Team" page.
• Structured data using the Physician type, with the doctor's name, specialty (only if registered), clinic address and languages.
• Links both ways between the doctor's profile and the service pages for the conditions they treat.
• Consistent details across your website, Google Business Profile, hospital listings and directories. AI assistants get confused when the same doctor has three different titles online.

This is part of the medical SEO work we do for specialist clinics, including orthopaedic, heart and dermatology practices. If AI visibility is a priority, our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT explains why accurate, consistent facts matter so much.

A quick audit you can do today

Open each doctor's profile next to their entry in the Professional Registration System and check:

1. Does the title on the page match the register?
2. Is every qualification listed also on the register, or checked against SMC guidance?
3. Are there any superlatives, comparisons or outcome claims?
4. Are there any testimonials, reviews or ratings on the page?
5. Are appointments, locations and hours current?

Most clinics can fix everything this turns up in an afternoon. It is one of the most useful afternoons you can spend on your website. Doctor profiles are one piece of a clinic's online presence. Our guide to digital marketing for doctors and medical practices covers the rest.