Draft Guidelines for National Register of Doctors

April 9, 2022

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has released draft guidelines on the registration of doctors in order for them to practice medicine. The issued guidelines have provided frameworks for the creation of a dynamic national medical register under which each student qualifying NEET will be provided with a unique ID. The professional qualifications of the students like super-specialty training and post-graduation will be added to the ID.

About the registration of foreign doctors

The three draft guidelines set also open the registration of all the foreign doctors who want to come to the country for fellowships, post-graduation courses, clinical research, and voluntary clinical services. Under the new guidelines, the NMC will be providing a temporary registration to the foreign doctors for the duration of the programme. 12 months will be the maximum duration of such temporary registrations.

Eligibility for registration

Under this draft, the medical graduates of India would become eligible for their registration in the National Medical Register after their completion of their MBBS degree from a college that is recognized, completing their mandatory year-long internship, and passing the National Exit Test (NExT).

Foreign medical graduates are eligible for registration if they have completed their education in another country, are registered as doctors in that country, completed an internship in India, and have passed the NExT exam.

About NExT exam

Currently, the Indian students are not required to appear for a licentiate exam after completing MBBS to get registered whereas, the medical graduates from foreign countries have to pass this test that is conducted by the National Board Examinations in Medical Sciences to be registered as doctors in the country. The NExT exam will level the playing field and will also be acting as the qualifying test to pursue post-graduate programmes instead of the present NEET-PG exam. The NExT exam is expected to be conducted from 2024.

About the registration process

For the registration process, a unique ID will be created and the portal will be made available to all the recognized institutes in the country so that they can India can upload all the verified documents of their students on this portal. Doing this will be making the registration process easier as currently, the state medical councils have to get all the documents submitted for registration by post before adding the name to the register. The draft guidelines have also stated that all licenced practitioners should update their data in the National Register such as contact details, additional qualifications, and place of practice or employment as soon as any change occurs.

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