Should a doctor show their registration number on their website in India?
Updated 7 min readFacts checked
Yes, in the places the NMC names. Regulation 1.4.1 makes it mandatory to display your registration number in your clinic and on every prescription, certificate and money receipt. Regulation 7.13 covers your signboard. The 2002 code predates websites, but showing the same number and qualifications there too keeps your listings consistent, which patients and AI tools both check.
Key takeaways
- Regulation 1.4.1 is mandatory, not optional: your registration number must be in your clinic and on every prescription, certificate and money receipt.
- Regulation 1.4.2 allows only recognised qualifications as a suffix to your name. Regulation 3.7.2 asks for your name, designation and registration particulars on the prescription letterhead.
- The 2002 code names your signboard and paperwork, not your website or Google profile. Showing the same details there is not required by name, but it keeps every listing consistent.
- The National Medical Register is a public document by law. A 2026 draft amendment, still under review on 17 Sep 2026, would add your licence status and any disciplinary action to it.
On this page
A framed degree on the wall is not what the rule actually asks for. The NMC's 2002 code names exact places your registration number and qualifications must appear, and stays silent on others. Here is which is which, in your own words rather than a lawyer's.
Is it mandatory to display your registration number?
Yes, and this rule is stricter than most of the advertising questions doctors ask about. Regulation 1.4.1 does not merely allow you to show your registration number. It requires it, in your clinic and on everything you hand a patient.
Two more clauses sit right next to it, and are easy to miss because they are not about advertising at all.
- Regulation 1.4.2, qualifications. Only recognised medical degrees, diplomas, memberships and honours may follow your name. Nothing borrowed, nothing invented.
- Regulation 3.7.2, the prescription letterhead. Separate from the number itself, your letterhead must carry your full name, designation and registration particulars.
Not displaying the number is treated as professional misconduct, the same category as the soliciting rules that get more attention. A Medical Dialogues report on an NMC clarification (opens in a new tab) puts it plainly: this is a compliance task, not a design choice.
What exactly must you show, and where?
The 2002 code names four places directly. Your website and Google profile are not on that list, which is a different thing from being told to leave them blank.
| Place | What must be shown | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Clinic signboard | Name, qualifications from a university or statutory body, titles, speciality name, registration number and the state council | 7.13 |
| Prescriptions | Registration number, plus name, designation and registration particulars on the letterhead | 1.4.1, 3.7.2 |
| Certificates and money receipts | Registration number | 1.4.1 |
| Name suffix, anywhere | Only recognised qualifications, nothing invented | 1.4.2 |
| Clinic website | Not named in the 2002 code | No direct clause |
| Google Business Profile | Not named; a separate Google rule applies | Not an NMC clause |
Sources: Indian Kanoon: Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 (full text) (checked 17 Sep 2026); Indian Journal of Medical Ethics: The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 (checked 17 Sep 2026).Our reading of the regulations, not a ruling. Ask your state medical council if you are unsure.
The signboard rule also caps the size: a board built to draw attention, rather than to inform, risks reading as the self-advertisement that regulation 6.1.2 separately bars.
What about your website and Google Business Profile?
Clinic websites barely existed when this code was written in 2002, so it has no clause naming them. That is not a green light to publish different details in different places. It is a reason to fall back on the same soliciting and self-advertisement rules the code does name, and on plain consistency.
For the full list of what a trustworthy clinic website needs, from fees to a privacy notice, see our guide to clinic website must-haves in India. The short version for this page: repeat your name, registration number and recognised qualifications exactly as they appear on your signboard and prescriptions, nothing more.
Google Business Profile has no field labelled for a medical registration number. It does have a place for a title or degree in the profile name itself. Google's own guidance says a practitioner's profile may include a title or degree certification, such as Dr. or MD (opens in a new tab). Use the description field for your qualifications and services, not for prices or offers, which Google's guidance separately asks you to leave out.
What is the National Medical Register?
Two registers, one built from the other. Every state has a State Medical Council that keeps its own State Register of the doctors it has registered, under section 30 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. Section 31 of the same Act has the NMC's Ethics and Medical Registration Board combine every state register into one National Register, and makes it a public document that must be published on the Board's own website.
Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulations, 2023
Sets up a three-tier registration (provisional, full, licensed) and a five-year licence, renewed through the State Medical Council.TeamLease RegTech: the 2023 registration regulations (opens in a new tab)
National Medical Register portal launches
Doctors begin registering for a unique ID that syncs every State Register into one central register, reported to cover more than 1.3 million doctors.The South First: the National Medical Register launch (opens in a new tab)
NMC issues a fresh draft amendment
Proposes a single all-India unique ID and would add a doctor's licence status and any disciplinary action to the register. Withdraws an earlier draft from 7 Apr 2026.Medical Dialogues: the 2026 draft amendment (opens in a new tab)
Our check: still a draft
Open for stakeholder comment as of this check. We found no notification finalising it.Medical Dialogues: the 2026 draft amendment (opens in a new tab)
That last row matters more than it looks. Once the amendment is finalised, a patient (or a tool) checking the register would see not just whether a number is real, but whether it is currently active and whether any disciplinary action is on file. Most pages on this topic online are older than August 2026 and miss it.
How can a patient check your registration number?
The same route works whether it is a patient or your own front desk double-checking a locum's paperwork.
Step 1: Find the number
On the signboard, a prescription, or the clinic website. It should read the same everywhere.Step 2: Note the state council
The number is issued by one state medical council, named next to it, for example the Uttar Pradesh Medical Council.Step 3: Search that council's register
Most state councils run their own online search. The UP Medical Council (opens in a new tab), for one, lets you search by name or registration number.Step 4: Cross-check the National Register
The NMC's central register is built from every state register and is a public document by law.
A number that returns no result, or a different name, is worth a direct question to the clinic, not an assumption either way.
Can ChatGPT or Gemini verify a doctor's registration?
Not directly, as far as the evidence goes. These tools do not query the NMC or a state council's database when they answer a question about your clinic. Google says plainly (opens in a new tab) that a page only needs to be indexed and eligible for normal Search to be eligible for AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no special verification step. Our post on whether schema helps your clinic show up in ChatGPT goes further into how these answers actually get built.
What that means in practice: an AI tool only knows the registration number and qualifications you have published and that it has crawled, the same way a patient reading your website does. If your signboard, prescriptions, website and Google profile all say the same correct number, that is the one version any tool is likely to repeat. If they disagree, there is no single source for it to trust.
Checklist: where to show your registration number and qualifications
Registration number and qualifications, place by place
Registration number on the clinic signboard, with the state council's name next to it.
Regulation 7.13. Keep the board informative, not built to draw attention.
Registration number on every prescription, certificate and money receipt.
Regulation 1.4.1. Not optional.
Name, designation and registration particulars on the prescription letterhead.
Regulation 3.7.2, separate from the number itself.
Only recognised qualifications after your name, everywhere.
Regulation 1.4.2.
Same name, number and qualifications repeated on your clinic website.
Not named in the 2002 code, but it keeps your paperwork and your website saying the same thing.
Title or degree in your Google Business Profile name, qualifications in the description.
Google's own guidance allows Dr., MD and similar in a practitioner's profile name.
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Common questions
Is it mandatory for a doctor to display their registration number in India?
Yes. Regulation 1.4.1 of the NMC's 2002 code requires every physician to display the registration number given by their State Medical Council in their clinic, and on every prescription, certificate and money receipt given to a patient. It is not a suggestion. Not doing so is treated as professional misconduct under the code. Checked 17 Sep 2026.
Does NMC require the registration number on a clinic website?
Not by name. The 2002 code was written before clinic websites were common, so regulation 1.4.1 names the clinic, prescriptions, certificates and receipts, not a URL. Showing the same registration number and qualifications on your website is still a sensible habit: it matches what is already on your signboard and paperwork. Our guide to clinic website must-haves in India covers the full list.
What is the difference between a State Medical Register and the National Medical Register?
Every State Medical Council keeps a State Register of the doctors it has registered, under section 30 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. The Ethics and Medical Registration Board combines every State Register into one National Register under section 31 of the same Act, which the law makes a public document that must be published on the Board's website.
How can a patient check if a doctor's registration number is real?
By searching the state medical council that issued it, most of which run their own online register search, or by checking the NMC's own public register, which is built from every state register. A number that returns no result, or a different name, is worth asking the clinic about directly.
Can I write any qualification I want after my name?
No. Regulation 1.4.2 allows only recognised medical degrees, diplomas, memberships and honours as a suffix to your name, not certificates from short courses or titles that are not degrees. Regulation 7.20 adds that you cannot call yourself a specialist without a special qualification in that branch.
Do AI tools like ChatGPT check the medical register before recommending a doctor?
There is no evidence of that, and Google says plainly that AI Overviews and AI Mode need a page to be indexed and eligible for normal Search, nothing more. These tools work from what is published and crawled, not a live lookup into the NMC or a state council's database. Showing your correct registration number the same way everywhere is what actually helps.
Facts checked against the sources listed on this page.
Sources
- 1.Indian Kanoon: Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 (full text) (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 2.National Medical Commission: Code of Medical Ethics Regulations, 2002 (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 3.Indian Journal of Medical Ethics: The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 4.Medical Dialogues: Doctors must display registration number on lab reports, prescriptions, certificates, money receipts, NMC (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 5.Indian Kanoon: National Medical Commission Act, 2019 (full text, section 31) (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 6.TeamLease RegTech: Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulations, 2023 (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 7.The South First: NMC's National Medical Register, a leap forward or will it infringe on states' autonomy (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 8.Medical Dialogues: National medical register to include doctors' licence status, disciplinary action details, NMC draft amendment (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 9.UP Medical Council: official website (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 10.Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google (checked 17 Sep 2026)
- 11.Google Search Central: AI features and your website (updated 10 Dec 2025) (checked 17 Sep 2026)
Update log
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