Of the 13 lakh doctors in India, only 284 are enrolled in national medical register

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The National Medical Register (NMR), the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) centralised database of registered medical practitioners in modern medicine, launched in August, received only 6,484 applications until December 13. Of these, 6,198 were not approved and two were rejected. This means that only 284 modern medicine doctors are now registered in the database. This information was revealed in response to a query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Kannur-based ophthalmologist K.V. Babu.

As per a statement in Parliament by Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, in 2022, there are around 13 lakh doctors in India. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the NMR is mandated under Section 31 of the NMC Act, 2019, which states that the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the NMC shall maintain a national register in electronic form containing the name, address, and all recognised qualifications possessed by a licensed medical practitioner. The NMR is meant to be a comprehensive and dynamic database for all allopathic [MBBS] registered doctors in India. The uniqueness of the NMR is that it is linked with the Aadhaar ID of the doctors which ensures the individual’s authenticity, says a note issued by the Ministry in August.

However, many doctors have been finding it difficult to upload their details because of reported technical problems. For instance, in Kerala, those who graduated from medical colleges when they were under the University of Calicut or the University of Kerala and registered under the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin Medical Councils are being asked to submit an affidavit. At present, medical courses here are run by the Kerala University of Health Sciences and the doctors are registering with the Kerala State Medical Councils.

Dr. Babu pointed out that if the registration continues at this pace, it will take at least 130 years to complete the process. “My applications, which were already approved by the State Medical Council (SMC) of Kerala before the launch of the NMR, were returned by the NMC with queries such as a change in the name of the university, SMC, difference in the name in the Aadhaar card and degree certificate. In the last 110 days, my applications have been returned with such queries four times. It seems the authorities are either not keen on entering the names of the doctors in the NMR or they are showing their incompetence again,” he pointed out.