The government has made it mandatory for doctors to get a unique identification number (UID) to practice medicine in the country, according to the new regulations issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

UID will be issued to doctors by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the commission. Doctors will need to register with the National Medical Register (NMR) for licence to practice medicine in India.

The national register will contain all the entries of the registered medical practitioners of all state registers maintained by the state medical councils, according to a gazette notification.

The licence to practice medicine issued to a registered medical practitioner will be valid for a period of five years after which the medical practitioner shall have to renew the licensing by making an application to the state medical council, the new rules titled 'Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulations, 2023' state.

The application for renewal of licence may be made before three months of expiration of the validity of licence.

The National Medical Register will be made available to the public on the website of the National Medical Commission. This will contain a medical practitioner's details including name, date of registration, medical qualifications, university, place of work, and specialty among others.

To obtain a licence, doctors have been asked to apply through a web portal of the Ethics & Medical Registration Board containing such details as specified in the electronic format.

"The State Medical Council shall satisfy themselves and consider the application for grant of licence to practice medicine in that state after charging appropriate fee within a period of 30 days," the government says.

The unique identification number will be suffixed with a code of the concerned state or union territory opted for by the medical practitioner.

In order to transfer one's licence to practice from one state to another, the regulations state that if a medical practitioner registered with the State Medical Council, desirous to practice medicine in another State, may apply to the concerned State through the web portal of the Ethics & Medical Registration Board.

All existing medical practitioners enrolled in the Indian Medical Register or the State Medical Register, not having the registration number as per these regulations shall update on the web portal of the Ethics & Medical Registration Board within a period of three months of publishing of these regulations and obtain the registration number as a one-time measure and the licence so generated shall be valid for a period of five years from the date of issuance, the notification says.

"Any person who has passed the qualifying examination of any University or medical institution in India for the grant of a recognized medical qualification shall be entitled to be registered provisionally for the purpose of internship training and on an application made for provisional registration to the concerned State Medical Council," it adds.

National Medical Register

Doctors will now need UID to practice medicine