Prime Highlights
- NMC has made ABHA-ID registration compulsory for all patients in medical schools; non-compliance may lead to approvals and seat renewals being affected.
- Fraudulent patient records will be heavily penalized; 2025‑26 assessments will be considered only for ABHA-ID validated cases.
Key Facts
- OPD, IPD, and emergency patients all have to be registered under ABHA-ID as well as hospital registration.
- Those medical schools that will not maintain real records will be sanctioned and their permissions revoked along with seat sanctions.
Key Background
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued a strict directive to all the medical colleges to admit all patients with an Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID number and hospital registration number. The step aims to enhance transparency, authenticity of data, and deterrence against misuse of fake patient records in regulatory audits and scholarly evaluations.
The notification is in accordance with a pattern of continuous non-adherence after a previous directive in June 2024. NMC has insisted that all in-patient records will be signed off by unit faculty and senior residents, along with their respective names and signatures. All test reports of investigations must be approved departmental faculty to carry responsibility.
The guidance comes at a point when there are concerns that medical sites are padding patient records in order to meet the occupancy rates required during the time of inspection and facilitate seat upgrades. With the implementation of ABHA-related registration, NMC aims to eliminate false play and establish authentic records of hospital activity and clinical exposure to be utilized for training doctors.
Default will elicit stern action. Any institution that is found forging or maintaining fake patient records shall be handled in a disciplinary fashion, including action against the faculty members concerned. Patient cases relating to ABHA-ID of the 2025-26 batch alone will be considered while granting permissions, renewals, and approval of seats. But the commission assured that patients should never be denied treatment simply because they lack an ABHA-ID; arrangements for on-the-spot registration must be made by hospitals.
This move is reflective of NMC’s devotion to digitization, authenticity of clinical data, and higher standards of medical education, with responsibility in patient care as much as in teaching.
