How to Check If Your Doctor Is Registered With the NMC

Any person who treats you as a doctor in India must be enrolled in a State Register or the National Register of medical practitioners. You can check this yourself, free, in about three minutes, by searching the Indian Medical Register on the National Medical Commission website using the doctor's name, or better, the registration number printed on the prescription. If the name does not appear, that is not proof of fraud on its own, but it is the point at which you stop and ask questions before you pay, consent to surgery, or accept a medical certificate.

Short on time? Go straight to "The three minute check" below. Keep the prescription in hand, because the registration number and the State Medical Council name are usually printed under the doctor's signature.

1. Pick up the prescription, letterhead, or clinic board. Look for a registration number and the name of a State Medical Council. Both are normally printed near the doctor's qualifications.
2. Open the Indian Medical Register search page on the NMC website: nmc.org.in Indian Medical Register.
3. Search by Registration Number if you have it. This is the reliable field. Searching by Doctor Name alone returns many similar names and is easy to misread.
4. Match three things at once: the name, the Year of Registration, and the State Medical Council. A real entry lines up on all three. One matching field is not a match.
5. Separately check the NMC's disciplinary list at the NMC blacklisted doctors page. A doctor can be genuinely registered and still be under a disciplinary order.

The search page accepts four fields: Doctor Name, Registration Number, Year of Registration, and State Medical Council. Use as many as you have.

This confuses almost everyone, so it is worth thirty seconds.

The National Medical Commission Act, 2019 calls it the National Register. The NMC's public website publishes it as the Indian Medical Register. They refer to the same statutory record of licensed medical practitioners. Older doctors registered before the digital rollout may sit in the State Register maintained by their State Medical Council, and their entry may not yet have been mirrored into the national database. That is the single most common innocent reason a genuine doctor does not show up.

Section 31 of the NMC Act, 2019 puts three duties in place that work in your favour as a patient.

• Section 31 sub-section 1: the Ethics and Medical Registration Board maintains a National Register with the name, address, and all recognised qualifications of every licensed medical practitioner.
• Section 31 sub-section 4: the National Register is a public document within the meaning of section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. You do not need anyone's permission to inspect it.
• Section 31 sub-section 5: the National Register shall be made available to the public by placing it on the website of the Ethics and Medical Registration Board.

Section 34, headed Bar to practice, is the provision that gives the check its teeth. It says that no person other than one enrolled in the State Register or the National Register shall be allowed to practice medicine as a qualified medical practitioner, hold office as a physician or surgeon, sign or authenticate a medical or fitness certificate, or give expert evidence in a court of law on a matter relating to medicine.

Section 34 sub-section 2 sets the penalty for contravening that section: imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or fine which may extend to five lakh rupees, or both.

Read those two together and the practical meaning is simple. An unregistered person cannot lawfully sign the fitness certificate your employer demands, or the medical certificate an insurer wants, and cannot stand in court as a medical expert.

Do not jump to a police complaint. Work through it in order.

1. Re-search using only the registration number, with no other field filled in. Extra fields narrow the query and hide valid results.
2. Try the year of registration one year either side. Data-entry slips are common.
3. Ask the clinic, in writing, for the doctor's registration number and the name of the State Medical Council that issued it.
4. If the entry still does not surface, the State Medical Council is the body that holds the original State Register. It is a public authority, so you can ask it directly under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Send this to the Public Information Officer of the relevant State Medical Council. Registration entries are not personal information exempt under section 8(1)(j), because the National Register is expressly a public document under section 31(4) of the NMC Act. For the broader framework on how PIOs handle personal-information claims, read our Section 8(1)(j) analysis.

Sample application under section 6 of the Right to Information Act, 2005

To: The Public Information Officer, [name] State Medical Council

1. Please state whether Dr. [full name], stated registration number
   [number], is currently enrolled on the State Register maintained by
   this Council under section 31 of the National Medical Commission
   Act, 2019.
2. Please provide the date of first registration and the recognised
   medical qualifications recorded against that entry.
3. Please state whether any disciplinary proceeding or order is
   currently pending or subsisting against that registration, and if so
   provide the date and operative part of the order.
4. Please state whether the said entry has been transmitted to the
   Ethics and Medical Registration Board under section 31 sub-section 6
   of the said Act, and if not, the reason.

Fee of rupees ten is enclosed. I am not seeking any third party personal
information beyond what section 31 of the said Act declares to be a
public document.

Draft and format it with the AI RTI Drafter. If the Council does not reply within thirty days, build your first appeal with the First Appeal Builder, and read our first appeal vs second appeal strategy guide to understand the escalation ladder.

Kashvi Pathak's father was booked for a cataract procedure at a small eye clinic. The prescription carried a registration number but no council name. She searched the Indian Medical Register by the number alone and found the surgeon listed, registered in a different state from the one where the clinic operated. That is lawful. Doctors move.

What the search also did was give her the correct spelling of the surgeon's name and the year of registration. She used those in a one-line RTI to that state's council asking whether any disciplinary order subsisted. The reply, received in twenty-two days, said none did. The procedure went ahead. Total cost, ten rupees and one search.

The point of the check is rarely to expose a fraud. It is to convert a stranger into a person with a verifiable public record before you hand over your body or your money.

Section 34 makes practising without enrolment an offence. Two routes exist, and they are not alternatives, they stack.

• Complain to the State Medical Council that covers the district. Attach the prescription, the clinic board photograph, and your register search result.
• Complain to the police, because section 34(2) carries imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to five lakh rupees, or both.

Note one limit before you expect a quick prosecution: under section 54 of the NMC Act, a court takes cognizance of an offence under the Act only on a written complaint by an officer authorised by the Commission, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board, or a State Medical Council. So the Council's complaint is the one that actually moves a prosecution. Your job is to give the Council a file it cannot ignore, and RTI is how you find out what it did with that file.

If the unregistered practice has caused harm, the situation may also involve medical negligence consumer complaints or even a criminal case against the doctor — both routes are available alongside the NMC Act prosecution.

Before the NMC Act, 2019 came into force, the Medical Council of India (MCI) maintained the Indian Medical Register under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. The NMC Act repealed the MCI and replaced it with four autonomous boards:

• The Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) — maintains the National Register
• The Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB)
• The Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB)
• The Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB)

The old MCI register data was migrated into the new National Register, but some entries — particularly those of doctors who retired, passed away, or failed to renew before the transition — may not have carried over cleanly. If a senior doctor who has been practising for decades does not appear in the online search, the most likely reason is a legacy data gap, not fraud.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which oversees the NMC, published details of the transition on the MoHFW website. You can also verify the full statutory text on India Code, Act 30 of 2019.

For related regulatory changes since the NMC Act, see our coverage of the NMC's removal of the 150-seat MBBS cap, MBBS internship fee rules, and medical college stipend penalties.

No. A foreign medical qualification does not, by itself, authorise a person to practise modern medicine in India. The pathway is:

1. The doctor must have obtained the primary medical qualification from an institution listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS).
2. The doctor must pass the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), conducted by the National Board of Examinations. Our FMGE registration guide covers this process.
3. After passing the FMGE, the doctor must register with a State Medical Council, which then transmits the entry to the National Register.
4. Only after State registration is complete does the person acquire the right to practise under section 34 of the NMC Act.

A doctor who claims a foreign degree but cannot show an FMGE pass certificate and an Indian State Medical Council registration number is not lawfully permitted to practise, regardless of how impressive the foreign qualification sounds. You can verify the FMGE qualification by asking the State Medical Council under RTI whether the FMGE pass certificate was submitted at the time of registration.

This is one of the most misunderstood areas of medical registration in India. The National Medical Commission register covers only practitioners of modern (allopathic) medicine. Each Indian system of medicine has its own separate council and register:

If you are consulting an Ayurvedic or homoeopathic practitioner, verify their registration through the AYUSH ministry's respective state council, not the NMC portal. Matching the register to the system of medicine is essential.

Under section 31(6) of the NMC Act, every State Medical Council must maintain its own State Register and regularly transmit that data to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board for inclusion in the National Register. In practice, this data synchronisation is imperfect:

This is why the recommended approach is two-stage: first search the NMC portal (fast, free, online), then if the entry is missing, file an RTI with the State Medical Council (authoritative, holds original records). The RTI Online portal can be used if the State Medical Council falls under central jurisdiction, but most State Medical Councils require a physical RTI application filed at their office.

If you are also investigating the hospital or clinic itself — not just the doctor — read our guides on RTI for hospital licences and RTI for Clinical Establishments Act compliance.

Because the National Register is declared a public document under section 31(4) of the NMC Act (read with section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act), the following information about any registered doctor is not exempt under the RTI Act:

• Name, address, and recognised medical qualifications
• Registration number and date of first registration
• The State Medical Council that holds the current entry
• Whether the registration is active, suspended, or revoked
• The existence and operative part of any disciplinary order

What you cannot obtain through RTI about a doctor:

• The doctor's personal phone number, residential details, or family information (exempt under section 8(1)(j) — unless larger public interest justifies disclosure)
• The full text of a pending investigation before it concludes (exempt under section 8(1)(h))
• Cabinet papers and internal advisory notes not yet acted upon (exempt under section 8(1)(i))

For more on how PIOs handle — and sometimes evade — personal information claims, read our analysis of how PIOs respond with evasive replies and the 10 best CIC decisions of 2025.

Yes, and you should. Just as doctors must be registered, medical colleges must be recognised by the NMC to confer valid degrees. A degree from an unrecognised college is not a recognised medical qualification, and its holder cannot be entered on the National Register.

The NMC publishes a list of recognised medical colleges on its website. For a complete guide to verifying medical college approval — including how to check recognition status, seat sanctions, and course approvals — see our medical college NMC approval verification guide.

Fake doctors are just one type of medical fraud in India. Patients should be aware of the full spectrum:

Each of these has a different complaint venue, and RTI can be used at every stage to obtain the records you need.

In substance, yes. The NMC Act, 2019 uses the term National Register in section 31. The Commission publishes the searchable database to the public as the Indian Medical Register. If a doctor is genuinely licensed, the entry should be traceable through that public search or through the State Register held by the State Medical Council.

Not necessarily, and you should not say so publicly until you know. The most common innocent explanation is an older State Register entry that was never mirrored into the national database. Section 31(6) requires every State Medical Council to maintain the State Register and supply it to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board. Ask the Council under RTI before you draw a conclusion. For more on this, see our article on RTI for government hospitals.

No. Section 34(1)© expressly bars anyone not enrolled in the State Register or the National Register from signing or authenticating a medical or fitness certificate required by law. A certificate signed by an unregistered person is worth nothing to the employer or insurer who asked for it.

No, and this is the trap. Registration proves enrolment, not good standing. A doctor can be on the register and simultaneously subject to a disciplinary order. Check the NMC disciplinary list separately at the NMC blacklisted doctors page, and ask the State Medical Council under RTI whether any order subsists against the registration. If you suspect malpractice, our guide on RTI for medical negligence enquiry explains how to obtain the inquiry records.

It should not. Section 31(4) of the NMC Act declares the National Register a public document within the meaning of section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and section 31(5) requires it to be published on the Board's website. Cite both in the application. If the Public Information Officer still refuses, that refusal is itself appealable. Our Section 8(1)(j) framework article explains the legal basis in detail.

The National Medical Commission register covers practitioners of modern medicine. Ayurveda, homoeopathy, and the other recognised systems are registered by their own separate councils and registers. A registration in one system does not authorise practice in another, so match the register to the system of medicine the practitioner claims. See the comparison table above under “What is the difference between allopathic and AYUSH registration?”

Ten rupees for the application to a State Medical Council, in the manner that state's rules prescribe. Applicants below the poverty line pay no fee. Photocopy charges may apply if you ask for documents rather than information. For BPL fee waivers specifically, read our RTI fee waiver guide.

If the State Medical Council is a central public authority, you can file through the RTI Online portal. However, most State Medical Councils are state-level public authorities and require a physical application delivered to their office. Some states now accept RTI applications through their own online portals. Check your state's IT department website for availability.

Doctors can and do transfer their registration from one State Medical Council to another. The NMC search should show the current state. If it does not, ask the doctor which council currently holds the entry, and verify that directly with the council under RTI.

Yes. Registration under the NMC Act does not immunise a doctor from criminal prosecution for medical negligence, consumer court claims for compensation, or disciplinary action by the State Medical Council. These three routes are independent and can run simultaneously. See our guides on NCDRC consumer complaints and criminal cases for medical negligence.

There is no statutory deadline for the NMC to mirror a State Medical Council's disciplinary order onto the national website. In practice, updates can lag by months. This is why the RTI route to the State Medical Council — which holds the original order — is more reliable for real-time disciplinary status. If a doctor's registration has been suspended, the State Register entry will reflect it immediately, even if the NMC website has not yet been updated.

Yes. Under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, clinical establishments must be registered with the state government. You can verify this through RTI to the state health department. See our Clinical Establishments Act RTI guide and hospital licence RTI guide for the exact application format.

Run the register search before the appointment, not after the bill. Save the search result as a screenshot with the date visible, because the register is updated and today's entry is your evidence of what it said when you relied on it. If something looks wrong, the RTI above costs ten rupees and closes the question in about a month.

For the wider method of turning a stonewalling public authority into a written record, read The RTI Playbook. To understand which exemptions a Public Information Officer may lawfully invoke, start with the RTI Act 2005 complete guide or browse all RTI Wiki guides. If you are new to drafting RTI applications, our how to write an RTI application guide is a good starting point.

• The National Medical Commission Act, 2019, sections 28, 31, 34 and 54: India Code, Act 30 of 2019
• Indian Medical Register search: National Medical Commission (nmc.org.in)
• NMC list of blacklisted doctors: National Medical Commission
• NMC Code of Medical Ethics Regulations, 2002: nmc.org.in
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: mohfw.gov.in
• MoHFW Medical Education division: mohfw.gov.in Medical Education
• RTI Online portal (central public authorities): rtionline.gov.in
• Press Information Bureau (government health policy releases): pib.gov.in
• The Right to Information Act, 2005: RTI Act 2005 on RTI Wiki

Reviewed by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak, RTI Wiki editorial team. This guide explains the public register and the statutory provisions that govern it. It is general information, not medical or legal advice on any specific case. Last reviewed: 11 July 2026.