Multiple registrations of doctors with various State Medical Councils makes tracking difficult, Parliamentary Panel gives recommendations

New Delhi: Highlighting that dual registration of doctors with the respective State Medical Councils where they practice and any other place where they may relocate, gives rise to multiple registrations of doctors with various Councils, making tracking difficult, the Parliamentary panel has recommended generation of a 'unique registration number' for the doctors at the National Medical Commission (NMC) level.

"This move can also leverage the national database and usher in uniformity in the registration of practicing doctors," the health panel mentioned in its report.

These observations have been mentioned in the One Hundred Fifty-Seventh report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. The panel, chaired by Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita, presented its report before the Parliament on 9th February 2024. Several issues related to medical education such as infrastructure, faculty issues, and quality control of medical education were discussed in the report.

In the report, the panel recommended NMC to maintain a real-time national database akin to the GME Track of the USA. It opined that such a database can allow access to multiple stakeholders including the Ministry, States, Medical Colleges etc. According to the panel, such a database can also serve as a tool to decimate the limitation of resources in the newly opened institutions and operate as a platform for experience and knowledge sharing among the resident doctors.

"As regards the maintenance of a national database of resident doctors, the Committee recommends that NMC maintain a real-time national database akin to the GME Track of the USA. This national database can allow access to multiple stakeholders viz, Ministry, States, Medical Colleges, and other concerned parties. This database can also serve as a tool to decimate the limitation of resources in the newly opened institutions and operate as a platform for experience and knowledge sharing among the resident doctors," the report mentioned.

At this outset, the panel also highlighted the issue of dual registration of doctors with the respective State Medical Council where they practice and any other place where they may relocate subsequently. It opined that the problem of dual registration is that it gives rise to multiple registrations of doctors with various State Medical Councils, making tracking difficult.

Advocating for an 'unique registration number' for the medical professionals, the panel opined in its report, "The Committee would like to recommend the generation of a 'unique registration number‘ for the doctors at the NMC level. This move can also leverage the national database and usher in uniformity in the registration of practicing doctors."

The idea of doctors having a unique identification number has already been advocated by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Medical Dialogues had last year reported that in a Gazette notification, NMC had announced its decision to have a National Medical Register for all registered medical practitioners. This decision was mentioned in the "Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulations", which was published in the Gazette of India on May 10, 2023.

Replacing the existing Indian Medical Register (IMR), the new National Medical Register will ensure that each of the doctors in India has a Unique ID and registration number that would be linked to their Aadhar numbers.

The NMR, which will be available in the public domain and placed on the NMC website, will display all the details regarding a doctor including his/her UID, registration number, name, place of work, qualifications, speciality, and name of the Institute/University from where the qualifications were obtained, etc.

How will NMR remove the issue of duplication?

At present, to practice in any of the States across the Country, a graduated doctor needs to apply to the concerned State Medical Council (SMC) separately. When he applies to the SMC (independently whether he is registered in the previous medical council or not) he is given a new registration number.

When the National Medical Register (NMR) comes into force, a doctor will be entered into NMR, and based on his/her application, the doctor will get a unique doctor ID.

Earlier, responding to the queries raised by Medical Dialogues, Dr. Yogender Malik, a member of NMC Ethics and Medical Registration Board had explained that with the introduction of the NMR, there will be a common registration number and the process of registration will be different from that of issuing licence.

Further explaining the new system and the distinguishing factor between registration and licence, Dr. Malik had mentioned that the UID generated from the NMR will be constant and there will be an option for doctors to apply for licence in various States. He also mentioned that this entire process of registration and obtaining licence will be done online.

Currently, all the doctors are applying for different registration numbers in different State Medical Councils and they are getting different numbers as well.

Also Read: One Doctor, One Registration: How the National Medical Register will remove duplication of state medical council registrations