Medical certificate: who can issue one and what it must carry Regulation 1.3.3, the Appendix 2 form, the certificate register, and what a false certificate costs.

A medical certificate is a document a registered medical practitioner signs in a professional capacity about a patient's health, which regulation 1.3.3 of the 2002 conduct regulations says "shall be prepared as in Appendix 2" and entered in a "Register of Medical Certificates" with the patient's signature or thumb mark and at least one identification mark. Regulation 7.7 describes the wider family: certificates, notifications, reports and documents "signed by them in their professional capacity for subsequent use in the courts or for administrative purposes", and Appendix 4 lists the laws they are issued under, from birth and death to "excusing attendance in courts of Justice, in public services, in public offices or in ordinary employment".

Who can issue a medical certificate?

A doctor enrolled in a State Register or the National Register. Section 34(1)(c) of the National Medical Commission Act 2019 says no other person shall "be entitled to sign or authenticate a medical or fitness certificate or any other certificate required by any law to be signed or authenticated by a duly qualified medical practitioner". Regulation 1.4.1 adds that the doctor's registration number goes on every certificate, and the Appendix 2 form has a line for "Registration No." and the council.

What must a medical certificate contain?

Appendix 2 is headed "Form of certificate recommended for leave or extension or communication of leave and for fitness". Reading the form and regulation 1.3.3 together, the certificate carries:

1. The patient's signature or thumb impression, filled in "in the presence of" the doctor, and two identification marks.
2. The doctor's statement, "after careful examination of the case", that the named person "is suffering from" a stated condition and that "a period of absence from duty of" a stated length "with effect from" a date "is absolutely necessary for the restoration of his health".
3. Place, date, the doctor's signature, registration number and the council.
4. The note under the form adds that "The nature and probable duration of the illness should also be specified" and that the certificate "must be accompanied by a brief resume of the case".

The patient's address, which regulation 1.3.3 says the doctor "shall not omit to record", goes on as well. A ready layout is in our medical certificate format; the rules and the common mistakes are in medical certificate rules in India.

What happens if a certificate is false?

Regulation 7.7 says a registered practitioner "who is shown to have signed or given under his name and authority any such certificate, notification, report or document of a similar character which is untrue, misleading or improper, is liable to have his name deleted from the Register". That is the council's sanction, separate from anything an employer or court does with the certificate.

What does a small clinic keep?

A bound or digital Register of Medical Certificates with a serial number, date, patient name, address, identification marks, the period certified and the doctor's initials, plus a copy of each certificate, is the regulation 1.3.3 set. At a single-doctor OPD the front desk fills the patient's lines before the doctor signs, and the serial number from the register goes on the certificate so the copy can be found when an employer phones.