National Medical Commission set to introduce ‘One Nation, One Licence’ for doctors across India
The National Medical Commission is set to introduce a ‘One Nation, One Licence’ framework allowing doctors to practise across India with a single registration. The proposed regulations also provide for digital synchronisation, five-year licences and streamlined registration for foreign graduates.
Hyderabad: Medical practitioners will soon be able to practice anywhere in the country without needing separate registrations every time they cross state lines. The National Medical Commission (NMC) is all set to launch Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, establishing the ‘One Nation, One License’ framework.
Once current doctors update their credentials through a centralized electronic portal to obtain a unique identification number linked to the National Medical Register, that single credential will allow them full legal eligibility to practice nationwide.
To ensure transparency in the States and at the national level, the new regulations make it mandatory for strict digital harmonization and accountability measures under the Ethics and Medical Registration Board.
It will be mandatory to maintain electronic synchronization between the National Register and State Registers, ensuring that any modifications such as qualification updates or disciplinary actions automatically reflect across databases in real time.
The new rules will dictate that medical practising licenses will remain valid for five years only. If a renewal application is missed within three months of expiration, a practitioner’s status automatically flips to inactive, instantly suspending their right to practice until the matter is resolved.
The Licence to Practice Medicine (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 also localizes how professional misconduct and medical negligence are handled. Complaints will be investigated by the State Medical Council where the incident has taken place.
The final decision on such complaints by the State Medical Councils will instantly be shared with the State registration council and national database.
Apart from unified registrations, the new Regulations explicitly streamline processes for Overseas Citizens of India and foreign medical graduates who clear qualifying exams like the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination or National Exit Test, integrating them into provisional internships.
Existing practitioners enrolled under older state or Indian medical registers will have to update (one-time) their details on the EMRB web portal to secure their NMR UIDs without paying processing fees.
Under the new revised guidelines, temporary registrations for foreign nationals will now match the exact duration of their course up to a maximum of 24 months ( from the previous 12-month limit) and followed by the mandatory one-year cooling-off period, which is the mandatory, pre-defined waiting phase of one year that a foreign national must complete after finishing their postgraduate or super-specialty medical training program in India.