Indicator 1: Your Clinic’s Name on a Board: The Rule That Surprises Every Doctor

Series: Understanding MSDS | Post 4 of 52
Standard 1 (ROM-1) | Indicator 1 | Category: RED (100% required)

The Board That Had Everything Except the One Thing That Mattered

Dr. Khalid Pervez had the largest signboard on the street.

He was proud of it, and reasonably so. It had gone up twelve years ago when he moved his practice to its current location in Saddar, Multan, a clean, well-trafficked commercial area where the morning foot traffic alone was enough to keep a clinic busy. The board was four feet high and nearly six feet wide, mounted on the outer wall above the entrance. It was repainted every two years. The font was professional and the colours tasteful: dark blue lettering on a white background with a thin green border.

It said:

DR. KHALID PERVEZ
MBBS, FCPS (Medicine), Dip. Cardiology (London)
Ex-Senior Medical Officer, Nishtar Hospital, Multan
Member, Pakistan Medical Association
General Physician & Cardiologist
Consultation: Morning & Evening
Phone: 0301-XXXXXXX

Eighteen years of practice. Hundreds of patients a month. A board that was visible from fifty metres in either direction.

The PHC assessor stood in front of it for nearly a minute before she said anything.

“Doctor sahib,” she said, turning to Dr. Khalid, “your PM&DC registration number is not on the board.”

Dr. Khalid looked at the board. He had read it so many times over twelve years that he had stopped seeing it. He read it again now, slowly, left to right, top to bottom.

She was correct.

In twelve years, not one patient had asked for his PM&DC number. Not one colleague had mentioned its absence. He knew his number and could recite it from memory, but it existed in his file inside the clinic, on his framed certificate and on his prescriptions. Not on the board.

“That is Indicator 1,” the assessor said, making a note. “It is a RED indicator. I am required to score it as not met.”

She moved on to the next item. Dr. Khalid stood for a moment longer, looking at his board: twelve years old, repainted many times, widely visible, and now a failed compliance indicator because of a few missing characters.

What Indicator 1 Actually Requires

Indicator 1 falls under Standard 1 of the Responsibilities of Management section. The standard statement is: the clinic is identifiable as an entity and easily accessible. Indicator 1 is the first and most visible test of that statement.

The indicator reads: The clinic is identifiable with name and PM&DC Registration number on a sign board.

That is the core requirement. Two pieces of information, both visible on the signboard outside your clinic:

1. The name: the clinic name, the doctor’s name, or both, clearly legible to anyone approaching the clinic.
2. The PM&DC Registration Number, written so that it is unambiguous. The MSDS gives a clear example: “Clinic ABC, PM&DC Reg. No. 0000.” The manual also advises that the registration number be written separately from the qualifications, so that it does not create the impression of an additional degree or diploma.

The purpose is stated directly in the survey process: a patient approaching the clinic should be able to know that they are accessing a qualified and duly registered medical practitioner. The PM&DC number is the public-facing evidence of that registration. It is not enough that you know your number. It is not enough that it is framed inside. It must be outside, on the board, readable before a patient walks in.

The guidelines also require the main board to carry the license number issued by the PHC. That requirement belongs to Indicator 3 and will be covered in its own post.

How the Assessor Scores This Indicator

Survey process: The assessor evaluates this indicator while approaching the clinic, not after entering. They are observing what any member of the public would see when walking toward your door. Is the board present? Is it appropriately placed and prominently visible? Does it clearly display the clinic or doctor name? Does it display the PM&DC registration number?

The scoring for Indicator 1 has only two outcomes.

Fully met: there is a signboard that clearly identifies the clinic with the name and PM&DC registration number, placed where it is visible on approach.

Not met: there is no signboard, or there are non-conformities to the above.

There is no partial score for this indicator. A board with a name but no PM&DC number fails. A board with a PM&DC number hidden behind a tree or facing the wrong direction fails. The assessor marks it fully met only when both elements are present, legible and visible on approach.

The Guidelines: What Else the MSDS Says About Your Signboard

Beyond the basic requirement of name and registration number, the MSDS provides guidance on what the signboard should look like and what it may, and may not, contain. Several of these details surprise clinic owners who have had boards up for years.

Size: The recommended size for the main signboard is 4 to 5 feet long and 2.5 to 3 feet high, depending on the site. A secondary signboard, where used, is recommended at 2.5 feet long and 2 feet high. These are recommendations, but they inform what a properly identifiable clinic looks like.

Placement: The board should be fixed on a wall, rooftop or pole, in compliance with local government regulations. It should be placed where it is visible from the approach, not tucked beside a doorway, not obscured by parked vehicles, and not so high that it cannot be read from the pavement.

Qualifications: Only qualifications recognized by the PM&DC may appear on the signboard, in permitted abbreviations. If it is not a degree or diploma recognized by the PM&DC, it does not belong on the board.

What may not appear on the board:

This is where many long-established clinics have a problem, because over the years doctors naturally accumulate titles, memberships, former positions and certifications they are proud of. And they put them on the board.

The MSDS is explicit: past or present appointments and memberships with associations or bodies shall not be mentioned on the board. This means:

• “Ex-CMO, District Headquarters Hospital” is not permitted.
• “Member, Pakistan Medical Association” is not permitted.
• “Consultant to XYZ Hospital” is not permitted.
• A qualification such as FCPS is permitted, because it is recognized by the PM&DC, but only as a qualification in its standard abbreviation, not as a title or membership.

Dr. Khalid’s board had two non-conformities of this type, “Ex-Senior Medical Officer, Nishtar Hospital” and “Member, Pakistan Medical Association”, in addition to the missing PM&DC number. His board was not just missing an element. It contained elements that are specifically not allowed.

The purpose of these restrictions is patient protection. A patient reading a board should be able to trust that everything on it represents a verified, PM&DC-recognized qualification. Titles, memberships and former positions cannot be verified by a patient standing at the entrance, and some of them are used by unqualified practitioners to create a false impression of credentials. The MSDS removes them from the board entirely.

The Fix: What Dr. Khalid Did

The assessor’s finding on Indicator 1 was a failure, but it was one of the most straightforward deficiencies in the entire assessment to address.

Dr. Khalid contacted the signboard painter the same week. The revised board read:

DR. KHALID PERVEZ
MBBS, FCPS (Medicine)
General Physician & Cardiologist
PM&DC Reg. No. XXXX-XXXXX
PHC License No. XXXXXX
Consultation Hours: 9am to 1pm | 5pm to 8pm

Cleaner. Shorter. Compliant.

Removing the diploma that was not recognized by the PM&DC, the past appointment and the association membership took three lines away. Adding the PM&DC number, the PHC license number and clear consultation hours put the right information in their place. One RED indicator resolved.

He later said that removing the “Ex-Senior Medical Officer” line had felt strange, because he had been proud of that posting. But the assessor had explained something that stayed with him: “Your PM&DC number tells a patient you are registered. Your FCPS tells them what you trained in. Everything else is background information for a CV, not a guarantee of current, verified standing.”

Before You Move On: Check Your Own Board Right Now

You do not need to wait for an assessor to tell you what Dr. Khalid learned on assessment day.

Step outside your clinic. Stand where a patient approaching from the street would stand. Look at your signboard and ask:

• Is your name, or your clinic’s name, clearly visible from this position?
• Is your PM&DC registration number on the board, in a format that identifies it as such?
• Does the board contain any past appointments, honorary titles or association memberships?
• Does it show any qualifications that are not recognized by the PM&DC?

If the answer to either of the first two questions is no, that is a RED indicator failure today, before any assessor arrives. If the answer to either of the last two is yes, that is a non-conformity that needs to be removed.

A signboard painter and an afternoon are all it takes to resolve Indicator 1. The assessor will stand in front of your clinic and look for two things. Make sure both are there.

Series so far: Post 1, The Inspector | Post 2, 18 Standards, 47 Indicators | Post 3, Red, Yellow and the Score | Post 4, Signboard

About this series: Educational content on MSDS compliance for clinics under the Punjab Healthcare Commission, based on the PHC MSDS Reference Manual 2017.