National Medical Register received sluggish response, registrations to speed up in next 6 months: NMC
New Delhi: Registrations on the National Medical Register, NMR, a centralised Aadhaar-linked database of doctors launched by the NMC in August 2024- have been very slow, with less than 1 percent of India's 13 lakh doctors enrolled by May 2025.
NMC chief Dr Abhijat Sheth admitted the sluggish response but said registrations will be substantially sped up within six months through better coordination with State Medical Councils and the use of AI and IT tools.
"Registrations on the National Medical Register, which has seen a sluggish response so far, will be speeded up in the next six months through better coordination with State Medical Council and leveraging technological tools like AI, new NMC head Dr Abhijat Sheth informed PTI
The National Medical Register (NMR), a centralised database of registered medical practitioners in modern medicine in the country, was started by the National Medical Commission (NMC) last year.
The NMR portal was launched by Union Health Minister JP Nadda in August 23, 2024, with an aim to create an authentic modern database of all allopathic doctors in the country.
Of the around 13 lakh doctors in the country, less than one per cent had enrolled on the platform by May this year.
In an exclusive interview to PTI, Dr Sheth acknowledged that the process of registration on the portal has been slow.
"Yes, it is true that this process has been very slow. First of all, I'll say that NMC already has a database of over 13 lakh doctors who are registered on the Indian Medical Register.
"The NMR is an upscaling of this database, which needs better coordination with the state medical councils as well as we need to speed up our IT processes and to add on to some of the tools like artificial intelligence and some IT tools to ensure that the speed of this database is achieved," Dr Sheth said.
"We have set up a timeline for six months where you will see a substantial increase in the numbers, and improvement with the NMR will take place," he told PTI.
The uniqueness of the NMR is that it is linked with the Aadhaar ID of doctors that ensures the individual's authenticity.
Also Read:Only 8,598 out of 13 Lakh Doctors Applied to Register in NMR- RTI Reveals Shocking Data
xplaining the low rate of doctors registering on the National Medical Register (NMR), the Union Minister of State for Health, Dr. Anupriya Patel, earlier informed the Lok Sabha that the application for issuance of NMR identification (ID) is voluntary.
She also explained how the doctor applies through the NMR portal, and the application first gets screened by the State Medical Council, which sends it to NMC after the verification.
The Minister informed that the National Medical Commission (NMC) has written to all the State Medical Councils to put in extra efforts to complete the NMR registration.
