Doctors’ clinics must now display QR codes for verification or face action

MUMBAI: Doctors in Maharashtra will now have to mandatorily display QR codes at their clinics before October 31 for patients to verify their registrations

MUMBAI: Doctors in Maharashtra will now have to mandatorily display QR codes at their clinics before October 31 for patients to verify their registrations. Failure to follow this could attract a penalty of up to ₹15,000 and even police action.

This mandate was introduced by the Maharashtra Medical Council on September 9 as part of the state government’s Know your Doctor (KYD) initiative against fake or unqualified doctors.

Scanning the QR code embossed on acrylic plates will reveal particulars of the medical practitioners, including their name, qualification, board of registration and even their practicing licence validity period. Such QR codes will have to be displayed at each of their clinics; hospitals too will have to ensure the display of every registered medical practitioner on its premises.

The QR codes will be linked to doctors’ registration boards and will automatically reflect changes when their licences are renewed every five years.

“The MMC had to make this QR code display compulsory due to the lukewarm response to its advisory issued last year, urging doctors to follow this system. Of the 1,43,,000 doctors registered with us, barely 20,000 applied for this,” Vinky Rughwani, administrator of the MMC, told HT.

The QR codes are different from registration certificates and cannot be manipulated. Ayurvedic and homeopathy doctors have been following this system for over 1.5 years, which also includes details about the Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP) for those who have completed it.

Meant to counter the functioning of fake or unqualified doctors, the move is being implemented following an outcry from legislators in the last two assembly sessions, seeking strict action against fake doctors.

Maharashtra is the first state to mandate a QR code authentication system for its doctors, informed Dr Rughwani, adding that this model could be considered by the National Medical Council.

The MMC receives an average of one complaint per month about instances of fake doctors practicing medicine in the state. These complaints are also sent to the district anti-quackery committees chaired by the respective district collectors as well as the police.