The National Medical Commission (NMC), the regulatory body for medical education and medical professionals, is all set to launch its “one nation, one registration platform’‘ for doctors across the country to eliminate duplication, red tape and allow the public to access information on any physician working in India.
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The NMC will unveil a patch pilot of the National Medical Register (NMR) in the next six months where doctors will be allotted a unique identification number and then can also apply for their licence to work in any State depending on where they are. The commission had earlier this year issued a gazette notification titled “Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulations, 2023” announcing the move.
“The idea is to provide a masked ID to undergraduate students on the NMR and depending on when they complete their course the ID is unmasked and allotted. This ID can be used to update any further qualification and all State registers for licence to work in any part of the country will be linked here and will be available at the click of a button,” said Dr. Yogender Malik, member, Ethics and Medical Registration Board, NMC on Tuesday at a press conference.
Relevant information
Dr. Yogender Malik added that information on the database would also be available for the general public. “This will contain relevant information about a medical practitioner’s qualifications, date of registration, place of working [name of hospital/institute], speciality, year of passing, university, name of the institute/university where qualification was obtained etc. Till the system is updated, the existing regulations shall continue,” added Dr. Malik.
The data of nearly 14 lakh doctors presently registered in the system will be transferred to the NMR.
The commission has also laid down the process of registration of additional qualifications, renewal of licence to practice medicine, transfer of licence to practice, removal and restoration of registration, transitory provisions, denial of licence to practice, among others. The notification on denial of licence to practice states that if the application of a candidate for grant of licence to practice /for renewal is rejected by the State Medical Council on any ground, the applicant may file an appeal to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) against the decision of the State Medical Council within 30 days of receipt of such decision.
Meanwhile, the commission has signed an MoU with the Quality Council of India (QCI) for rating medical institutions in India. Both government and private medical colleges will be rated based on the quality of medical education they provide, from the 2024-25 academic session.
