Medical Education – NMC Warns Medical Colleges Over Delays in Digital Compliance Measures
Medical Education –Digital healthcare compliance for medical institutions and hospital systems – The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued a fresh warning to medical colleges across India after identifying significant gaps in the implementation of mandatory digital infrastructure designed to improve transparency, monitoring, and the overall quality of medical education.
NMC Directs Institutions to Complete Mandatory Digital Requirements
In an official communication released on Friday, the Commission instructed all medical colleges that have not yet complied with prescribed technology-based requirements to complete the pending work without delay. Institutions have been asked to coordinate with their Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) service providers and ensure that all required systems become operational at the earliest. The regulator stated that failure to meet these obligations could result in action under existing regulatory provisions.
The mandatory initiatives include the installation of Aadhaar-Enabled Biometric Attendance Systems (AEBAS), integration of hospital CCTV feeds with the NMC’s central monitoring platform, and connecting hospital information systems with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). According to the Commission, these measures are intended to strengthen faculty attendance monitoring, support objective assessments, and improve oversight of medical education and hospital-based training.
HMIS Integration Remains a Key Requirement
The Commission once again reminded undergraduate and postgraduate medical colleges that every attached or affiliated teaching hospital must operate a functional HMIS. Information generated through these systems is expected to assist the relevant NMC boards in evaluating institutional performance and maintaining academic standards.
The digital platform also supports Health Record Linkage (HRL), allowing patient records to be connected with their ABHA identification numbers. This process is expected to improve access to authenticated clinical information while helping regulators monitor the availability of clinical material used during medical training.
Several Colleges Yet to Reflect on ABDM Dashboard
According to data available with the Commission as of July 10, a total of 247 medical colleges were using HMIS software compatible with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. However, the corresponding information from these institutions was still not appearing on the ABDM-HMIS monitoring dashboard.
Among the affected states, Karnataka accounted for the highest number with 39 colleges, followed by Maharashtra with 35, Tamil Nadu with 26, Uttar Pradesh with 19, Telangana with 18, and West Bengal with 17 institutions.
More Than 200 Institutions Still Await Software Adoption
The Commission’s review also revealed that 203 medical colleges had not yet adopted HMIS software compatible with the ABDM framework. Tamil Nadu reported the largest number of such institutions at 37, while Karnataka had 18 colleges on the list. Kerala accounted for 16 institutions, and Telangana reported eight.
The ABDM-enabled system is designed to simplify hospital administration through digital processes such as generating ABHA IDs, creating standardised electronic prescriptions, and maintaining patient health records with consent-based access. These features are expected to improve operational efficiency while supporting India’s broader digital healthcare ecosystem.
Errors Found in Health Facility Registry Details
In a separate compliance review, the National Medical Commission reported that 73 medical colleges had either failed to submit their Health Facility Registry (HFR) identification numbers or had provided incorrect information by July 10.
Delhi, Maharashtra, and West Bengal each recorded eight institutions with incomplete or inaccurate HFR details. Uttar Pradesh followed with seven colleges, while Tamil Nadu also featured among the states where compliance issues were identified.
The Commission has indicated that institutions must promptly correct these deficiencies to ensure smooth integration with national digital healthcare platforms and maintain compliance with regulatory standards established for medical education across the country.