Doctor's name, degrees and titles: NMC rules What may follow your name on a board, a prescription or a visiting card.

A doctor in India may write after his or her name only recognised medical degrees, and certificates, diplomas, memberships or honours that confer professional knowledge, plus the registration number and the name of the council that issued it. That is regulation 1.4.2 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, read with regulations 1.4.1 and 7.13, and the NMC's guidelines on advertising dated 6 October 2026 say they are to be read with those regulations. The line is the same on the clinic board, the prescription pad, certificates and money receipts.

Our other posts cover the rest of the board and the rest of the advertising rules: see signboard and fee display rules for size, photographs and where a board may hang, and the NMC advertising guidelines 2026 for posts, reviews and social media. This one is only about the name line.

Which qualifications may follow my name?

Recognised medical degrees, and certificates, diplomas, memberships or honours that confer professional knowledge. Regulation 1.4.2 reads: "Physicians shall display as suffix to their names only recognized medical degrees or such certificates/diplomas and memberships/honours which confer professional knowledge or recognizes any exemplary qualification/achievements." Regulation 7.13 describes the board in the same terms: name, "qualifications obtained from a University or a statutory body, titles and name of his speciality, registration number including the name of the State Medical Council under which registered", and adds that "the same should be the contents of his prescription papers."

"Recognised" has a meaning in the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. Section 2(r) defines a recognised medical qualification as one recognised under sections 35, 36, 37 or 40. In practice that covers:

• Degrees from Indian universities and medical institutions listed by the Under-Graduate or Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (section 35).
• Foreign qualifications the Commission has recognised, and those already in the old Act's schedules (section 36).
• Qualifications from the bodies in the Act's Schedule: JIPMER, the AIIMS, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS and the National Board of Examination (section 37).

Section 33(3) gives a registered doctor the right to have a later recognised qualification "entered against his name in the State Register or the National Register". So when you finish an MD, DNB or diploma, register it with your council. A qualification on your board that your council's register does not show is the first thing a complaint will point to.

What should not go after my name?

Anything that is neither a recognised qualification nor a membership or honour that confers professional knowledge. Regulation 1.4.2 is a list of what is allowed, so the safe reading is that everything else is out. Breaking it is not a minor point: regulation 7.3 makes it misconduct if a doctor "does not display the registration number ... or violates the provisions of regulation 1.4.2."

Two common cases need a judgement call. A course certificate from a weekend workshop or an online programme is not a degree, and whether it "confers professional knowledge" is the question your council would ask; if you cannot point to the body that grants it and its standing, leave it off. A former hospital post is not a qualification at all, and regulation 6.1.1 names "appointments, associations, affiliations" among things a doctor must not use to invite attention to himself.

When can I call myself a specialist?

Only when you hold a special qualification in that branch. Regulation 7.20 says: "A Physician shall not claim to be specialist unless he has a special qualification in that branch." An MBBS doctor who sees many diabetes patients may say so in conversation, but writing "Diabetologist" or "Skin specialist" on the board needs the qualification in that branch. The 2026 guidelines add a second limit on how the speciality is described: section 8.1(iii) bars claims such as "Best doctors" and "No.1 Specialist", and section 7.2(a) bars AI-made content that misrepresents "professional qualifications".

Is "Dr" reserved for registered medical practitioners?

No statute we read reserves it. The 2002 regulations speak of qualifications as a suffix and do not mention the prefix, and the NMC Act does not confer it. On 22 January 2026, in Indian Medical Association v Union of India (W.P.(C) No. 41064 of 2025 and connected cases), a single judge of the Kerala High Court dismissed petitions against physiotherapists and occupational therapists using "Dr". The judgment says "the NMC Act does not contain any provision for conferring the title Doctor on qualified medical professionals" and that "the petitioners cannot claim exclusive right to use the prefix 'Dr'." We have not checked whether an appeal is pending.

What the law does reserve is practice. Section 34(1) of the NMC Act says no one other than a person enrolled in a State Register or the National Register shall "be allowed to practice medicine as a qualified medical practitioner" or sign certificates that a law requires a qualified medical practitioner to sign, and section 34(2) sets a punishment of up to one year in prison, a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, or both. For a clinic owner the practical rule follows: whoever uses "Dr" on your board or prescription, the qualification and registration number next to the name are what tell a patient who is a registered medical practitioner. AYUSH doctors follow their own councils' rules; see our post on BAMS, BHMS and BUMS clinics.

Where must the name line appear?

On the clinic, and on every prescription, certificate and money receipt. Regulation 1.4.1 says: "Every physician shall display the registration number accorded to him by the State Medical Council / Medical Council of India in his clinic and in all his prescriptions, certificates, money receipts given to his patients." The 2026 guidelines carry the same idea online: Explanation III to section 3.2 asks a doctor's electronic media posts to "transparently disclose their name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR Registration number", and Explanation IV asks the same of a clinic's posts for each doctor named.

1. Write the name, then each recognised qualification in the order granted, with the university or board in brackets if you wish.
2. Add the speciality only if you hold a qualification in that branch.
3. Add "Reg. No." with the number and the council's name, for example the state medical council that registered you.
4. Use the identical line on the board, letterhead, prescription pad, certificates, receipts, visiting card and any online profile.
5. When you add a qualification, register it with your council first, then update every surface on the same day.

Our free letterhead maker and prescription format tools lay out this line, and what a prescription must contain covers the rest of the pad.

What happens if the name line breaks the rules?

Under regulation 7.3, failing to show the registration number or breaching regulation 1.4.2 is professional misconduct. For breaches of the 2026 guidelines, section 10.1 lists graded action by the state medical council: a warning and mandatory ethics training for a first violation, censure and a monetary penalty for a second, and suspension of registration for three to six months for a third. Section 10.2 requires a show-cause notice first.