THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Medical Commission’s prolonged delay in updating national medical records (NMR) has provided an opening for unqualified practitioners to misuse the registration numbers of licensed doctors, allowing them to engage in illegal medical practices.
The registration details of over 30,000 doctors in the state are missing from the NMR as the apex medical regulator has yet to update its records. This information void has been seized upon by quacks, who utilise missing registration numbers to fabricate documents and facilitate their illicit practice across the state, according to the General Practitioners Association (GPA), which is spearheading a campaign against bogus medics.
While the NMC announced its intention in May to establish the NMR under the Regulation of Medical Practitioners and License to Practice Medicine Regulations, 2023, implementation has stalled, leaving its website without updated and easily accessible registration information.
Currently, there are more than one lakh doctors registered with the Kerala State Medical Council (KSMC), the successor to the Travancore Cochin Medical Councils. However, the NMR only has details of approximately 70,000 doctors from the state, creating a significant gap for the GPA’s Quack Cell initiative, which scrutinises registration numbers to identify bogus practitioners. The cell now faces substantial challenges when dealing with registration numbers exceeding this 70,000 threshold.
“Verifying registration numbers with the KSMC is a tedious process. Hence, we depend on the NMR. But quacks have become smarter and they use the registration numbers which are not updated in the NMR,” said Dr Ashik Basheer, joint secretary of GPA.
GPA had exposed Murugeshwari, who exploited a neurologist’s registration number to practise at a private hospital in Kothamangalam. The Quack Cell uncovered that a young Murugeshwari was using a registration number of around 37,000 which could belong only to a senior doctor considering the fact that newer registrations are in six figures.
New medical graduates register with the KSMC, which allocates registration numbers. The registration numbers assigned by state authorities are sent to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the NMC for maintaining the NMR.
Only duly registered medical professionals are authorised to practice in the state. Despite this mandate, instances of MBBS students, dropouts, and unqualified medical graduates studying abroad practising unchecked abound.
KSMC authorities acknowledged the delay on the part of the NMC. “KSMC shelved a similar project at the state level because the NMC had notified the formation of the National Unified Registration Number in three months. The process is still on,” said Dr Harikumaran Nair G S, president (modern medicine), KSMC. A national-level website alone would not help discourage quacks, Harikumaran said, adding hospital management has to take the initiative of verifying the credentials of doctors before appointing them.
Massive void
Currently, there are more than one lakh doctors registered with the Kerala State Medical Council (KSMC), the successor to the Travancore Cochin Medical Councils. However, the NMR only has details of approximately 70,000 doctors from the state, creating a significant gap for the GPA’s Quack Cell initiative