.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Friday launched a national medical register (NMR) portal, which will be a comprehensive and dynamic database for all allopathic registered doctors in India.
The ministry plans to soon launch a similar registry for paramedics and other healthcare professionals.
At the launch, Nadda said the national health register is a much-awaited step that will strengthen the digital healthcare ecosystem and will ensure quality healthcare for the people of India.
“We are moving in the direction of launching a similar register for the paramedics and other healthcare professionals,” he said.
Commending the National Medical Council (NMC) and National Health Authority (NHA) for coming out with the NHR, Nadda said, “The Prime Minister's vision is to make India digitally sound and that can happen if the health ecosystem is also digitally sturdy.
He further added that the NMR will be upgraded and augmented with continuous improvements in the registration process on the portal.
The NMR is mandated under Section 31 of the NMC Act, 2019 which states that the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of NMC shall maintain a national register in electronic form containing the name, address, and all recognized qualifications possessed by a licensed medical practitioner.
The uniqueness of the NMR is that it is linked with the Aadhaar ID of the doctors which ensures the individual’s authenticity.
Nadda said the State Medical Councils (SMCs) are major stakeholders in the development and maintenance of NMR and facilitating the registration process and urged them “for their active participation and to fasten the registration process” as their “efforts of authentication and speed of authentication will be a key factor in the success of NMR.”
At the event, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, said, “The need for the NMR has been felt for a very long time. The NMR is important as authentic data on doctors across the country is crucial. The data on doctors to date has been in a scattered form that needs revision, and updation, and the NMR portal will ensure that. The easy registration process will ensure the maintenance of authentic data.”
“This authenticity of information holds a lot of value because India wants to create a huge digital health ecosystem and creating the digital registry of doctors will be an important pillar for that,” she said.
Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra said that to date, there was a lack of comprehensive data that could provide a detailed and holistic picture of aspects like the total number of doctors in the country, those who have left the country, those who have lost their license to practice, or the numbers and details of doctors that have lost their lives.
“The launch of the NMR will ensure the provision of data of its more than 13 lakh doctors," he said adding that “the NMR will be a part of the Healthcare Professional Registry under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and will contain all the details of the medical professionals,” he said.