Unique IDs for doctors soon to help patients check credentials

New Delhi: Doctors in India may soon have their own unique identities, allowing patients to check a medic’s credentials before a visit, as the long-awaited National Medical Register (NMR) is set for a 2024 launch, officials said here on Tuesday.

The National Medical Commission will shortly roll out the pilot phase of the NMR, which will not only be a comprehensive database of doctors in India but also spare medical professionals from the trouble of multiple registrations once they move to new states.

“It will be one of the biggest reforms in the medical sector. We hope to commence with the pilot phase in another six months and issue the UIDs by the end of 2024,” said Yogendra Malik, member of the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the NMC.

Government data shows more than 13 lakh doctors are currently registered with different state medical councils. Assuming 80% availability, close to 10 lakh doctors are understood to be available for active service, but there is no exact number in the absence of a centralised database.

The NMC seeks to fill this data gap, besides making lives easy for both patients and doctors. A part of the NMR will be open to the public, allowing people to check a doctor’s degrees and other qualifications before visiting him/her for consultation.

The NMR will display the information of a doctor, such as their UID, registration number, name, place of work, qualifications, specialties, and the name of the institute or university from which the qualifications were obtained, among other key details.

"The initiative of creating 'one nation, one registration platform' for doctors also aims at eliminating duplication,” Malik said. The NMR will replace the Indian Medical Register.

India currently has 706 medical colleges, offering 108,198 undergraduate seats. Once the NMR is operational, all the students enrolled in the courses will get a masked version of their unique ID, which will be unmasked once they pass the MBBS examination. They will be able to upload their other degrees later against the same ID.

The doctors already registered with state medical councils will not have to re-register as the entire IMR data will be transferred to the NMR. "Once they are registered with the NMR, they will be able to apply and also take a license to work in multiple states," Malik said.

In May, the NMC set the ball rolling on NMR when it came out with a gazette notification detailing the rules for registration of doctors and license to practice.