Process to Streamline Registration to Foreign Medical Practitioners

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued an advisory on processing of application of temporary registration to foreign medical practitioners sponsored by any institute/ hospital. This advisory is dated 23rd August, 2023.

It may be recalled that the Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulation, 2023 states that, “A foreign citizen may be allowed to do Fellowship/Clinical Research/ Clinical training / Observership for enhancing their skill and competence through training or academic courses conducted in any Institute in India. For the purpose, the Institute may apply to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board through the web portal along with the following details:

• Name and registration certification of the foreign citizen (if applicable)
• Information related to course content, duration, training facilities, teaching, and infrastructure facilities (details should be available on the website of the Institute)
• Details of fee being charged by the Institute.
• A processing fee (as prescribed by EMRB, NMC from time to time), in favour of the Secretary, NMC.

Therefore, in order to streamline the process of timely grant of temporary registration to foreign medical practitioners the following shall be ensured:

• Details of fellowship programmes being run by the registered hospital/ medical college/ institute should be uploaded on their official website
• Information relating to course content, duration, training facilities, teaching, faculty details along with their registration nos. and infrastructure facilities must be made available for online verification by the NMC

Non-compliance with the said requirements may cause delay in processing applications for temporary registration for fellowship programmes. It is pertinent to note that ordinarily, temporary registration of foreign medical practitioners shall be provided for a maximum of 12 months followed by a cooling off period of 1 year. Such registration shall also be limited to the medical college/ institution/ hospital sponsoring the programme.