The GMC has now licensed a total of 218,153 doctors who are able to practise in the UK as part of what the regulator calls the biggest change in medical regulation since the first medical register of 150 years ago.
From this week, any doctor in the UK who wishes to practise has to be both registered with the GMC and have a licence to practise.
The licence to practise gives a UK doctor the legal authority to write prescriptions, sign death certificates and exercise a wide range of other legal "privileges".
This applies to all doctors working in the UK, whether working in the NHS, the independent sector, either on a permanent or locum basis.
Currently, there are more than 225,000 doctors on the GMC register, so those without a license will not be able to practise. They are more likely to be working as an academic or outside the UK.
Professor Peter Rubin, chair of the GMC, said: “The successful start to licensing is a major milestone towards the introduction of revalidation, a new process by which doctors will have to regularly demonstrate to the GMC that they remain up to date and fit to practise in the job that they do.”
England’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: “I welcome the introduction of the licence to practise by the GMC. It is an important prerequisite for the introduction of revalidation, and a clear signal that revalidation is on its way.
“I congratulate the GMC on its successful communication with the profession about this important change, with a 97% response rate from doctors on whether they wish to take a licence or not.”