Central database for doctors on the cards

Doctors may soon have their own unique identities, allowing patients to check a medic’s credentials before paying a visit.

The central government is planning to launch national registers for various healthcare personnel for citizens under the One Nation One Register programme, a senior government official said.

The programme aims to give patients information regarding the doctors available in their locality, and whether they have a valid license registered with the national registry.

The first such registry for dentists was launched by the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday.

The National Dental Register (NDR) is an online database of all dental practitioners in India.

The NDR database is part of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and the National Health Mission (NHM) to provide unique identification to healthcare providers.

The new dental register will be different from the current Indian Dentists Register (IDR), which is updated by several state dental councils, but maintained by the Dental Council of India (DCI).

According to data available on the DCI website, more than 3,19,000 dentists are currently registered under the IDR.

The registry has its share of anomalies. “The additions by state dental councils sometimes lead to redundancy and repetition of data”, an official said.

The NDR will not have any additions or updates from state councils.

According to an official overseeing the ABDM, dentists will now be able to apply for registration on the national site. “The role of the state council will be to verify the registration applications,” the official added.

Speaking at the launch event of the new dental registry, Kiran Gopal Vaska, Director, IT, and policy coordination, ABDM and PMJAY said that the NDR is one of the many databases being created under the ‘One Nation One Register’ programme.

“Similar registers will be launched for doctors and nursing personnel, which will later be linked with the Healthcare Professionals Register under the ABDM,” he said.

Commenting on the step to launch national registers for healthcare professionals, Neeraj Verma, senior consultant, and dental advisor, at the dental department, of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital said the central registration would not only curb redundancy in data but also help organisations authenticate the background of medical professionals.

The government is also looking to launch a national medical register for all practicing doctors in the country.

According to estimates, there are currently more than 1.5 million practicing doctors in India, who are registered with the National Medical Commission (NMC).

“It would also include information of around 5,65,000 AYUSH doctors,” the official added.