Why in News: 

• Recently, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare informed the Lok Sabha that obtaining a National Medical Register (NMR) Identification (ID) is a voluntary process.

National Medical Register(NMR)

• What is it?: NMR is a centralized database of registered medical practitioners of modern medicine, maintained by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
• Launched in August 2024 under the NMC Act, 2019, it was initially introduced as a mandatory registration exercise for all medical practitioners
• Objectives:
  • Enabling the public to access verified information about any doctor practising in India
  • Removing duplication of records
• Key Features:
  • Each entry contains details such as qualification, area of specialisation (being updated), registration status, and date of registration, along with a unique NMR Identification Number (NMR ID).
  • Every record is linked to the practitioner’s Aadhaar for identity verification; while certain data is public, sensitive information is accessible only to authorised persons and institutions.
  • State Medical Councils (SMCs) verify degrees, process applications, and update the portal to ensure transparency and governance.
  • After SMC verification, the application is forwarded to the NMC, which, upon confirmation, issues the unique NMR ID.