NMC's National Medical Register To Help Doctors Practice In Multiple States

The medical practioner's details will be open for public viewing on the NMC website, which will help maintain transparency about their credentials and prevent duplication 

• With an aim to trans- form medical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) is all set to launch the 'one nation one registration platform' called the National Medical Register (NMR) that will contain an extensive database of doctors practicing in the country. The NMC has plans to start a pi- lot project on the NMR within the next six months when doctors will be provided a Unique Identification Number (UID) by 2024 end/2025, following which they can also apply for license to work in multiple states.

• The doctors' details in times to come will also be open for public viewing on the NMC website, which will help maintain transparency about the authenticity of their credentials and pre- vent duplication and red tapism," says Dr Yogender Malik, member, Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB), NMC, at a media interaction recently. The NMR, according to him, will act as central repository of information on doctors and replace the Indian Medical Register (IMR).

•  It will include relevant information about a medical practitioner's UID, registration number, qualifications, date of registration, place of work (name of hospital/institute), specialty, year of passing, university, name of the institute/university where qualifications were secured and other key details. "Before the issuance of UID, verification of the credentials filled by the doctor would be conducted through the respective State Medical Councils (SMCs). The verification would be seamless as the institute/medical colleges, SMCs, Registered Medical Practitioners RMPS) will be on boarded for online verification of each and every credential of the RMPS entered in the NMR with authorization of the concerned SMC(s)," says Dr Vijay Laksh- mi Nag, member, EMRB, NMC. As part of the process, the data of nearly 14 lakh doc- tors currently registered in the IMR will be transferred to the NMR. The UID will be genera-ted centrally by the EMRB and give flexibility to the doctors to apply and take license to work in various states.

• The unique IDs of the NMR will not be restricted to practicing doctors alone. Undergraduate students will be provided a masked ID which will be unmasked once they complete their degrees. This UID can be used to update any further quoted centrally by the EMRB and give flexibility to the doctors to apply and take license to work in various states.

• The unique IDs of the NMR will not be restricted to practicing doctors alone. Undergraduate students will be provided a masked ID which will be unmasked once they complete their degrees. This UID can be used to update any further data on specialist doctors in various regions. This will facilitate policy formulation to meet the shortage of doctors," says a senior health ministry official. Further, students' IDs can monitor their academic and career trajectory and will help authorities get data on their blocking seats in the counsel- ling process to address the is- sue of vacant seats, he adds.