National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021
Also called: NCAHP Act, NCAHP Act 2021 · Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 (Act No. 14 of 2021, dated 28 March 2021) is a law of Parliament. It sets up the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Because a law created it, the NCAHP is a statutory body. The Commission sets standards for how allied and healthcare professionals are trained and how they work. It also assesses the institutions that train them. It keeps a Central Register of these professionals, and state councils keep State Registers. The Act covers 56 professions in 10 categories, such as physiotherapy, medical imaging, clinical laboratories and physician associates. Until this law, most of these workers had no regulator at all.
Example
In November 2026, the NCAHP published draft rules for registration. Under them, existing workers first get provisional (temporary) registration. They move to regular registration after a bridge course, supervised clinical training or an exam, where these apply. Earlier, the Supreme Court in Joint Forum of Medical Technologists of India v. Union of India had to direct the Centre and the states to implement the Act. It recorded that only 14 of 28 states had set up their State Councils.
Don't confuse with
- National Medical Commission Act, 2019: it regulates doctors. The NCAHP Act regulates allied health workers such as technicians and therapists. Doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists each have their own separate regulator.