How to Verify a Doctor's Registration Number in India Before They Join Your Clinic

Sooner or later a solo clinic brings in another doctor: a locum while you are away, a visiting consultant one evening a week, or an assistant for the morning OPD. Their prescriptions go out to your patients. You can do most of the check that they are registered on a public website.

This guide walks through the two places to check, what each result does and does not tell you, and what to keep on file. It also covers West Bengal, where news reports in early October 2026 said the state health department has asked private establishments to verify registration before appointing a doctor.

As of 16 October 2026. This is a general guide, not legal advice. The sections marked "our reading" are not an official checklist.

When a small clinic should check (our reading)#

There is no single national checklist for this. Our reading is that it is worth checking whenever another doctor will see patients or sign prescriptions under your clinic's name:

• a locum covering your leave
• a visiting consultant who runs a session at your clinic
• an assistant doctor, including a recent graduate
• a doctor who joins as a partner

Check before the first patient, not after.

Step 1: Search NMC's Indian Medical Register#

The National Medical Commission runs a public search at Indian Medical Register (Information Desk on nmc.org.in). This is what we saw on the live page on 16 October 2026:

• The page is titled "Indian Medical Registry Search" and says: "This section of our website publishes the Registered Doctors with the various State Medical Councils across India".
• It also says: "Note: This data is being updated."
• You can search by Name, Year of Registration, Registration Number or State Medical Council, or use Advance Search to combine name, registration number, year and council.
• The results list shows Sl No, Name, Father Name, Year of Info, Registration No and State Medical Council, with a View button.
• View opens "View IMR Details", which shows fields including Name, Father/Husband Name, Date of Birth, Date of Reg., Registration No, State Medical Council, Qualification, Qualification Year, University Name, Permanent Address, UPRN No and Year of Info, with a Print button.
• There is also a Black List Doctor tab. This guide uses the registration search, not that tab.
• We did not need to sign in or pay to search.

How to use it: search by the registration number and the State Medical Council the doctor gave you. Then open the record and compare the name, father's or husband's name, qualification and council with the doctor's own certificate.

Step 2: Check with the State Medical Council#

The register's own note says its data "is being updated", so a missing record is not proof of anything, and a found record may be out of date. The council that registered the doctor is the next stop.

NMC's State Medical Councils page lists each council with its address, phone numbers, email and, where given, a website. Use it to find the right council's contact details instead of a search-engine result. For example, it lists the West Bengal Medical Council's website as wbmc.in.

Ask the council to confirm that the registration is valid, and ask how it prefers to receive such requests. We have not checked whether each council answers online, by email or by phone.

What a match does and does not tell you (our reading)#

A matching record tells you that someone with that name and registration number was entered on a council's register. It does not, by itself, tell you:

• That the person in front of you is that doctor. Match the record against their original certificate and a photo ID.
• That the registration is current. The record shows a "Year of Info", which tells you how old the entry is. When we ran a test search, results included registrations dated as far back as 1929, so an old record can still appear. Ask the council if renewal applies in that state.
• What they can practise. Compare the qualification on the record with what the doctor is going to do in your clinic.

If anything does not match, stop and ask the State Medical Council before the doctor sees patients.

West Bengal: the October 2026 protocol (as reported)#

On 2 October 2026, IANS reported (carried by The Hans India) that the West Bengal Health Department has issued protocols under which "a private medical establishment has to verify the registration numbers of the doctors concerned before making an appointment". Medical Dialogues (5 October 2026) carried the same report and said private facilities have been directed to verify all documents under Rule 7(4) of the West Bengal Clinical Establishment (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Rules, 2017.

Both reports quote an unnamed health department official saying that in case of doubt, "the attention of the West [Bengal] Medical Council should be drawn immediately to verify the eligibility of the doctor concerned". That wording is the news report's, not a document we have read.

As of 16 October 2026 we could not find the notification itself on a government website, and we have not read the text of Rule 7(4). If you run a clinic in West Bengal, ask your licensing authority for the notification and follow its wording, not ours.

What to keep on file (our reading)#

For each doctor who works in your clinic, keep:

• a copy of their registration certificate and qualification certificate
• the printout of their Indian Medical Register record (the Print button on "View IMR Details"), with the date you checked written on it
• a note of any confirmation from the State Medical Council, with the date
• the date you will check again, if their registration needs renewal in that state

These are personal documents. Store them where only you can reach them, and do not share them on group chats.

Where Medabha fits, and where it does not#

Medabha is built for one doctor per clinic, with an optional receptionist login. That doctor fills in their Qualification, Registration number and Medical council under Settings, then Letterhead & Rx. The page is titled "Letterhead & prescription". It says: "These print on every prescription, PDF, and WhatsApp copy." The printed line reads "Reg. No." followed by the number and the council.

That matters when a locum or visiting doctor works in your clinic. Medabha has no way to add a second doctor to your clinic, so they cannot sign prescriptions there under their own name. If they sign in with your login, every prescription they sign prints your name and your registration number, not theirs. Do not share your login. A locum should prescribe with their own details: on their own letterhead, or from their own Medabha account.

What Medabha does not do: it does not check any registration number against NMC's register or any State Medical Council. It prints what the doctor types. That is why the check above should happen before another doctor sees patients in your clinic.

If you want your own national registration in order too, see our guides to the NMR ID and HPR registration. Digital prescription software prints the details you enter. It does not verify them.

This is a general guide, not legal advice. As of 16 October 2026.