PCI HPR Registration Now Mandatory for Pharmacists: 15-Day Deadline

If you’re a registered pharmacist in India, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has rolled out an update you can’t afford to ignore. The DIGI-PHARMed portal (also called PRTS) is now officially integrated with the Health Professional Registry (HPR) under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). The integration went live on 12 August 2026, and there’s a real deadline attached.

Here’s the whole thing broken down, plain and simple.

What’s the update, in short?

• PCI has linked its DIGI-PHARMed portal with the national Health Professional Registry (HPR), maintained by the National Health Authority (NHA).
• Every registered pharmacist will now get a verified HPR Card — a digital identity confirming they’re a legitimately registered pharmacy professional.
• Pharmacists are now part of the same verified registry as doctors, nurses and dentists under ABDM.
• For existing users on DIGI-PHARMed: complete HPR validation within 15 days of the circular.
• For new users (including fresh pharmacy graduates): HPR profile generation is now built into the registration process itself — you can’t finish registering without it.
• Miss the deadline or submit fake documents, and your profile can be deactivated or blacklisted.

Why is this being done?

• The HPR is a single, verified national registry of all health professionals practising in India — modern medicine, dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, Homoeopathy, nursing, and now pharmacy.
• Pharmacists were a long-standing gap in this registry. This step closes it.
• A verified HPR profile means your identity, qualifications and registration can be digitally confirmed by patients, employers, hospitals and regulators.
• It also ties into the ABHA-based system that links a patient’s health records (with their consent).
• From the 2025-26 academic session, only ABHA-verified faculty profiles will be considered for Standard Inspection Format (SIF) applications — so pharmacy institutions have to comply too, not just individuals.

Who needs to do what?

Existing pharmacists — already registered on DIGI-PHARMed with a valid BH-P number:

• Log in and complete e-KYC (Aadhaar OTP-based).
• Review and verify personal, professional and educational details.
• Complete any pending mandatory fields.
• Submit the profile for HPR generation within 15 days of the circular.
• Your State Pharmacy Council (SPC) will then scrutinise and approve it, after which your HPR card is generated.

New pharmacists / students — registering for the first time:

• HPR profile generation is now part of the registration workflow itself.
• You complete it as you register — there’s no separate “later” step.
• Full step-by-step process is in the student section below.

Step-by-step process: Existing DIGI-PHARMed users

1. Log in to the PRTS / DIGI-PHARMed portal at digipharmed.pci.gov.in using your BH-P number and password.
2. Complete e-KYC — Aadhaar-based verification through OTP. Keep your Aadhaar-linked mobile number active.
3. Review your personal details. Fields pulled from Aadhaar are restricted and non-editable, so check them carefully.
4. Verify professional and educational information — pharmacy qualification, SPC registration number, current work details. Upload supporting documents where required.
5. Complete any pending mandatory fields — anything left half-filled earlier needs to be finished now.
6. Submit the profile. You’ll see a success message and SPC status will show “pending”.
7. SPC approval — your profile is sent to your registered State Pharmacy Council. Once approved, your HPR card is generated.

Step-by-step process: Students / new pharmacists

If you’ve just completed your D.Pharm, B.Pharm or Pharm.D and are registering on DIGI-PHARMed for the first time, here’s exactly how to go about it:

1. Create your ABHA number first (if you don’t have one). Visit abha.abdm.gov.in and generate it using your Aadhaar. You’ll need this before you start DIGI-PHARMed registration.
2. Go to the portal — digipharmed.pci.gov.in — and click on Pharmacists Registration.
3. Fill in the registration form with a valid mobile number and your SPC Registration Number (the one issued by your State Pharmacy Council after you registered with them). Submit the form.
4. SPC verification — if your name, registration number and date of birth match your State Pharmacy Council’s records, your profile gets marked as SPC Verified. If they don’t match, you’ll see a warning in red text; you can still proceed but will need Aadhaar verification.
5. Click “Proceed” — you’ll be redirected to an external site for Aadhaar verification. Make sure your Aadhaar-registered mobile number is active and with you.
6. Enter your Aadhaar details and verify using the OTP sent to your mobile. The page will wait while verification completes.
7. Step 2 of registration — once Aadhaar is verified, you’re taken to the next form. Fill in the remaining details. The fields highlighted in yellow are restricted and non-editable (these are fetched from Aadhaar).
8. Submit the form to complete registration. You’ll get your username on screen and via SMS.
9. Log in with your new username and password. After login, you’ll see a pop-up — click on “Go to Profile”.
10. Update educational and working details — add your pharmacy qualification, registration details and current work information. Upload the required documents (make sure they’re correct and legible).
11. Submit the profile. You’ll see a success message and the SPC status will show “pending”.
12. SPC scrutiny and HPR card generation — your State Pharmacy Council reviews the profile. Once approved, your HPR profile/card is generated as part of the new workflow.

One thing to note for students: registration with your State Pharmacy Council is a prerequisite. PCI doesn’t register pharmacists directly — that’s done by the SPCs under the Pharmacy Act, 1948. So make sure your SPC registration number is in hand before you begin the DIGI-PHARMed process.

What happens if you don’t comply?

• Existing users who miss the 15-day window risk having their DIGI-PHARMed profile deactivated, making it unusable for future verification.
• New users can’t complete registration without the HPR step — there’s no skipping it.
• If PCI finds that any documents submitted during registration are incorrect or forged, the pharmacist’s profile will be blacklisted. This warning is explicit, not a placeholder.

Things to keep in mind

• Keep your Aadhaar-registered mobile number active — you’ll need it for OTP at multiple stages.
• Double-check your name, registration number and DOB against your State Pharmacy Council records before submitting. Mismatches slow things down.
• Upload only genuine, legible documents. The blacklist warning is real.
• If you hit a “PAN/Aadhaar already exists” error during registration, PCI has issued guidance for this — use the grievance section on the portal or email the Council.
• Never share OTPs or login credentials with anyone, and use only official PCI or State Pharmacy Council sources.
• The exact deadline should be checked against the latest PCI circular applicable to your profile, as portal instructions can be updated.

Conclusion

This isn’t a circular to file away and deal with “later.” The 15-day window for existing DIGI-PHARMed users is tight, and deactivation means going through the whole process again with extra scrutiny. For students and new registrants, HPR is now just part of the standard registration flow — unavoidable but straightforward if your documents are in order.

If you’re a pharmacist, treat the HPR card the way you’d treat renewing your council registration: it’s not optional anymore, and the deadline is real. Log in, check what’s pending, and get it done.

Sources: Pharmacy Council of India circulars and portal guidelines; National Health Authority / Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission documentation; PCI notifications on DIGI-PHARMed profile verification and HPR integration.