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New Delhi, July 29, 2025 — The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued a strong public notice, calling on all medical colleges across India to strictly maintain authentic patient records. The NMC’s latest directive highlights the mandatory use of the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID during patient registration, a step aimed at enhancing the authenticity and traceability of clinical data in medical teaching hospitals.
The NMC emphasized that all in-patient records must include the name and signature of the unit faculty and senior resident doctors involved in patient care. Similarly, all investigative reports should be countersigned by faculty from the corresponding department. This measure, according to the commission, will ensure accountability and enable effective verification during inspections.
Addressing concerns that many colleges were neglecting the requirement to link patient records with ABHA ID — despite a prior directive issued in June 2024 — the NMC stated that failure to comply would attract strict action. Disciplinary measures could be taken against both institutions and individual faculty members found responsible for creating or maintaining fake records.
The Commission further clarified that while creating an ABHA ID is a simple process, often facilitated via the widely-held Aadhaar card, no patient should be denied treatment for lack of an ABHA ID. However, from the academic year 2025-26 onwards, only those patients and clinical materials authenticated with an ABHA ID will be considered in institutional assessments, such as permissions for new or continued admission of students.
These guidelines are meant to ensure that hospitals attached to medical colleges have verifiable clinical material and that patient records reflect genuine cases — both of which are crucial for academic and regulatory evaluations carried out by the NMC. The public notice asserted that these standards were decided at the NMC’s 14th meeting held on May 1, 2024, and are in effect immediately.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is based on official communications and publicly available notices from the National Medical Commission as reported by Medical Dialogues. For the complete official notice, please refer to the NMC’s official website or contact relevant authorities for formal guidance.
