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Shift 5 of 7

A doctor’s growth can travel with them.

FromA doctor profileToA portable clinical identity

A doctor’s professional identity rests on strong foundations: degree, registration, experience and reputation. This shift adds a living layer on top of them, owned by the doctor: validated evidence of what they have learned, handled and contributed.

Level 1 Concept3 min read

A year later

A young MBBS doctor joins the network. She handles appropriate cases at the Points of Care. She learns through them. She takes part in case discussions and contributes two cases of her own. illustrative

A year later, her professional profile shows not just her degree and registration but what she’s learned, the cases she’s handled, the areas she’s grown in and what she’s contributed. A clinic in a nearby town is looking for a doctor with exactly that experience.

What a clinical identity holds

The foundations are strong already. India’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission includes a national Healthcare Professionals Registry that verifies and credentials doctors digitally[1]. A Clinical Identity builds on it, adding appropriate, validated evidence of:

  • qualifications and registration
  • areas of clinical interest
  • learning progress and CME participation
  • relevant case exposure
  • clinical discussions and contributions
  • demonstrated capabilities
  • professional experience

Not a number. Not a leaderboard. Not “the best doctor.” Instead: “This is what this doctor has learned, experienced, demonstrated and contributed.”

Owned by the doctor, portable by design

Owned by the doctor. Verified against the national registry, controlled by the doctor and shared only as they choose.

Portable. It travels with the doctor across the ecosystem: primary care, teleconsultation, private clinics, hospitals, specialty practices, diagnostic networks, health programmes and medical education.

A pathway for young doctors: learning, then experience, demonstrated capability and opportunity. A platform for experienced doctors: cases, teaching, knowledge, reputation and new ways to contribute.

Better matching for patients. When a patient needs a consultation, the network can match the case to doctors by relevant experience, documented capabilities, consultation type and availability, giving patients more meaningful choice and doctors more meaningful opportunity.

Not another certificate. A portable record of a doctor’s growth, and a path to what comes next.

Go deeper

Who it helps

Young doctors gain a visible path from learning to opportunity. Experienced doctors gain new ways to teach, contribute and extend their expertise. Patients find doctors whose experience fits their needs. Healthcare organisations find the right clinicians with more confidence.

Within the profession’s rules

The Medical Council’s 2002 regulations treat the soliciting of patients, directly or indirectly, and self-advertisement as unethical, while allowing formal announcements such as on starting practice and a public declaration of charges[2]. A clinical identity therefore informs matching and is shared with the doctor’s consent. It is never advertising or a public ranking, and anything shown publicly stays within what the profession permits.

Scope. How the rules apply to a profile that patients can see is a question for the Medical Council and for a legal review before launch.

Getting it right

The doctor owns it. Nothing is shared without consent, and they can correct or remove anything.

Evidence, not judgement. Only validated information appears. No ratings, rankings or scores.

Fair to every doctor. Matching must be transparent and must not disadvantage doctors early in their careers or in smaller places.

What could go wrong

  • Turning into a ranking.A profile that people read as a score would pressure doctors, so it shows evidence and not grades.
  • Disadvantaging newcomers.Experience-based matching can favour those who already have it, so the matching rules are published and tested for fairness.
  • Advertising by another name.Profiles that patients can see must stay inside the profession’s rules.
  • A record that follows a doctor everywhere.Portability cuts both ways, so the doctor controls what travels.

How we’d test it

Profiles built with the pilot doctors and verified against the national registry, used first for one thing: matching cases from the Points of Care to doctors with relevant experience.

The test
Matching on experience
What we would measure
Measure doctors’ satisfaction with their profiles, the quality of matches, and whether young doctors find new opportunities. Open profiles to clinics and health programmes looking for doctors only afterwards.
What would end the idea
Doctors don’t find their profiles accurate or useful, or matching favours those who are already established.

Sources

  1. [1]Press Information Bureau, Union Health Minister Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda launches Unified Health Interface (29 June 2026)Checked; a government press release
  2. [2]Medical Council of India, Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, clause 6.1Checked; a copy of the Regulations hosted by the Delhi Medical Council

Spotted a source we missed or a rule we misread? Tell us what we got wrong.

An identity that travels needs a network to travel through. The next shift connects the whole journey.