NEW DELHI: Two years ago, the National Medical Commission (NMC) made the National Medical Register (NMR), a centralised database for modern medicine practitioners in the country, mandatory.
However, after it failed to take off even after a year, the Union Health Ministry was forced to announce that it was voluntary and that too in the parliament via a written reply.
But now, it seems the NMC has taken a U-turn yet again.
In its draft Registration of Medical Practitioners and License to Practice Medicine (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, the NMC has inserted it again for registration and getting a license to practice in any state.
The proposal states that “the NMR shall be a national register of medical practitioners maintained by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) as specified in Section 31 of the NMC Act, 2019, with a Unique Identification (UID) Number assigned to every medical practitioner registered under State Medical Register (SMR) maintained by the State Medical Councils.”
It further said that “the NMR number shall be valid for medical practice across India, in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.”
“The National Medical Register shall serve as the central repository of the registration particulars of Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) and of any disciplinary proceedings, orders of suspension, removal, restoration, or any such order issued by a State Medical Council, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board, or the National Medical Commission,” said the draft notification.
This paper was the first to report that the NMR portal, launched with great fanfare by Union Health Minister JP Nadda on August 23, 2024, has failed to register RMPs.
After multiple hurdles were encountered in the initiative to enrol doctors in the portal, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2025, “National Medical Commission (NMC) has informed that the application for issuance of National Medical Register (NMR) Identification (ID) is voluntary.”
As per the NMC’s January 7, 2026, minutes of the meeting, reported by this paper, only 1,800 RMPs were registered in the much-publicised NMR as of December last year.
Not only that, as many as 30,000 applications for RMPs were pending verification with the State Medical Councils (SMCs) and the NMC till that period. India has an estimated 14 lakh modern medical practitioners.
According to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) National President Dr Anil Kumar Nayak, the NMR portal didn’t work earlier, and doctors faced many challenges in registering themselves. “We even brought it to the knowledge of the former NMC Chairman."
"However, when the portal didn’t work, and doctors failed to register themselves, it was made voluntary. Now the NMC has taken a U-turn. We hope under the new chairman NMR will finally take off,” he said. The IMA has over 4 lakh members.
Speaking with this paper, RTI activist Dr KV Babu, who has filed several RTIs on the issue after he ran into many hurdles in registering, said, “There is no need for any RMP whose name is in the SMC or erstwhile IMR to register in the NMR again!”
“As per the reply in the parliament on August 8, 2025, it was clarified that application for issuance of NMR registration is voluntary. The NMC, instead of making it decentralised, is again trying the failed centralised experiment of 2024, which is bound to fail again,” the Kerala-based ophthalmologist said.
The draft also states that all RMPs that do not have a registration number shall update their records in the EMRB web portal within three months of the regulation's publication and obtain a registration number as a one-time measure; the licenses so generated will be valid for five years.
It also states that a license must be applied for through the portal, and its approval will be reflected in the NMR and the State Medical Register.
“The EMRB shall ensure electronic synchronisation of the National Register and the State Register in such a manner that any change in one register is automatically reflected in the other register,” the draft states.
“Upon grant of registration and licence to practice medicine by an SMC and the allotment of a Unique Identification Number (UID) in the National Medical Register by EMRB, the medical practitioner shall be eligible to practice medicine in any State or Union Territory of India without requiring fresh registration and licence to practice medicine in any other State or Union Territory,” the draft said.
While the move to allow doctors to practice anywhere in India with a single license was welcomed, questions were raised about how robust the NMR procedure will be now.
It is not that NMC is unaware of the challenges in registering in NMR.
At its 17th meeting, chaired by Chairman Dr Abhijat Chandrakant Sheth, members expressed concern about the “slow progress” in the registration process. They suggested forming a committee to recommend solutions and expedite the NMR update process.
It also mentioned that detailed deliberations are needed regarding NMR.
The minutes said that “operational challenges were reported for slow progress due to voluntary enrolment, data inconsistencies between State Medical Registers and NMR, and technical constraints affecting workflow efficiency.”
The meeting, held on December 16, 2025, also noted that “feedback received from medical professionals indicates the need for review and improvement.”
“These challenges are being examined, and further measures are being planned to strengthen system functionality and to accelerate progress,” said the minutes of the meeting, which 33 members attended.
The NMC, which published the draft on August 11, has invited objections and suggestions from all stakeholders within 30 days.
