Medical Council of India UPRN Policy decoded with Dr Jayshree Mehta, President,MCI

In a landmark move the Medical Council of India ( MCI ) has now announced its move to have a new Indian Medical Register, whereby each medical practitioner in the country will have a unique permanent registration number.

However, since the announcement, questions have been arising in the minds of medical practitioners, regarding the implementation as well as impact of the said policy on doctors across the country.

Medical Dialogues team did an exclusive interview with Dr Jayshree Mehta, President, Medical Council of India, who has decoded the policy for the benefit of medical pracititioners. Read Further:-

Q1) Kindly explain the Proposed UPRN ( Unique Permanent Registration Number) policy in brief.

Ans: The UPRN policy by MCI is proposed mainly to reach each and every valid Doctor in India and at the same time update the IMR database with only one record for one Doctor.  Currently, there are multiple records of most of Doctors as they register with multiple State Medical Councils.  At the same time, there is no current and updated status of Doctors with any of agencies and the record exists for Doctors  who may have left the country for good or passed away or may have taken up some other profession.  UPRN will provide true data of Medical Practitioners in the country enabling Government to make new policies.

Q2) What is the rationale behind the policy?

Ans : To get the true numbers of each and every Doctor in India, have current contact details of each Doctors, Lean and mean IMR database where the current status of the Doctor is reflected in the UPRN.

Q3) What will be the benefit of the UPRN to doctors?

Ans: The main benefit will be to get the true number of Doctors in India.  This will enable Government to drive new policies on increasing Medical Colleges and hospitals so that every citizen can get the benefits.  The current and latest contact details will enable the Govt. to reach Doctors in case of Emergencies like Natural disasters or any other emergency.

Q4) What will happen to state council registrations after this?

Ans: The UPRN will have no impact on State Council registration and this may continue as it is.

Q5) What will be the status of renewal? What will be the procedure?

Ans : Renewal will be time bound and compulsory and every registered Doctor who have UPRN will get an automated alert (email/sms) on pending renewal and they can go to MCI website to initiate renewals.

Q6) What are the Financial implications of the UPRN on the doctor( registrant) and on the state council?

Ans: There will not be any Financial impact on the Doctor and State Council because of UPRN as MCI is not charging any fees for UPRN generation.

Q7) Will it be related to Aadhar Card?

Ans: Yes it will be verified against Aadhar number to eliminate any frauds and quakes.

Q8) Will URN be state specific and what will happen to URN if doctors change their state of practice?

Ans: UPRN will show the current state name where Doctor is registered and if the Doctor changes the state then the UPRN will reflect the changed State name.

Q9) Currently, some states are putting some pre-condition ( like bond service.) What are the implications of the same on the URN?

Ans : This is the state Council specific process and UPRN have no impact of this procedure as UPRN will be only generated once the state has registered the Doctor and updated the State registration number in MCI portal.

Q10) Medical Practice is a state subject and so is medical registration. Some states are allowing doctors of other pathies to be registered under the State Medical Register. How will URN deal with this issue? 

Ans : UPRN have no impact on the this and current process of the state can continue.

Q11) Timelines, if any?

Ans : UPRN will take the same time as required by the State Council to register the Doctor with them as it will be generated automatically once the SMCs enter the SMC registration number of that Doctor on MCI portal.  If timelines pertains to completion of this activity for all doctors, then we are looking at completing this for atleast 80-90% of doctors within 12 to 18 months of starting this activity.

Read Also : Landmark: MCI to give Unique Permanent Registration Number to all doctors across the country

Read Also: How to get your Unique Permanent Registration Number with Medical Council Of India