NEW DELHI: The National Medical Register (NMR), a centralised database of registered medical practitioners in modern medicine in the country, has received less than one per cent of doctor applications for enrollment in the last eight months despite it being mandatory for registered doctors in India to enrol in the central registry.
But what is shocking is that out of the less than one per cent of doctors who have so far applied for NMR, which was launched with great fanfare by Union Health Minister J P Nadda on August 23, 98 per cent of applications have not been approved.
There are over 13 lakh registered medical practitioners (RMPs) in India.
According to an RTI, the National Medical Council (NMC) received 10,411 applications till April 24.
The RTI reply, dated April 29, said that the total number of applications not approved to date is 10,237, including 139 applications where queries were raised.
“The total number of applications rejected to date is two,” the reply said.
According to Kerala-based Dr K V Babu, who filed the RTI, according to information provided by the NMC, 13,08,009 allopathic doctors were registered with the State Medical Councils (SMCs) and the NMC as of June 2022.
“The RTI has revealed that 10,411 applications were submitted, of which the NMC has not approved 10,237. The NMC should understand the implications of 98% non-approval of the applications. Of the over 13 lakh doctors, over 10,000 applicants have even applied for the registration in about eight months. It is just 0.8% of the total doctors in India,” Dr Babu told this paper.
He said what is ironic is that 98% of applications have not been approved.
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 recognised qualifications possessed by a licensed medical practitioner.
As per the gazette notification of May 10, 2023, enrolling is mandatory in NMR, which Nadda had described as a comprehensive and dynamic database for allopathic (MBBS) registered doctors in India at the time of its launch.
The RTI activist said there are a few takers for NMR because the registration process has become very complicated.
He said that once the registration number and degree certificates are verified by the SMCs, the NMC should automatically enrol doctors, as the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) did in the past.
But in the new process, the doctors are asked not only to upload Aadhar but also to submit an affidavit if their names or state medical council names do not match the current data.
“NMC should withdraw the direction to upload the affidavit,” said Dr Babu, one of the doctors who faced immense problems getting himself registered because the name on his Aadhaar and his certificate was different.
Dr Babu said the situation was brought to the attention of the NMC chairman last year in October. “Instead of rectifying the mistake, NMC is continuing the ineffective method of NMR registration, which will be disastrous. If this continues, it will take 100 years for doctors to be registered.”
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has four lakh members, also took up the matter with the NMC last year.