The Maharashtra legislative assembly, in its last session, unanimously passed a bill amending sub-clauses of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners' Act, 1982 to make them more stringent for doctors not registered with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) or without the proper qualifications to practice medicine within the state. The bill was earlier passed in the upper house, the legislative council, thus making it into an amendment act.

Under the new rules, anyone found practicing medicine without the proper qualifications, or without being registered with the MMC, would be liable to two to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000 for the first time the offence is proved. If the person is found committing the offence for the second time, he or she could be liable to rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs. 25,000. In addition, the offender would have to pay a fine of Rs. 500 for each day that he or she continues the practice after the offence is proved.

The state government has also decided to set up a committee to scrutinise all the registrations of medical practitioners in the state over the last five years following complaints of irregularities in the registration process.

In Maharashtra, as in other states, a separate council governs each of the systems of medicine. Thus, allopathic practitioners are governed by the MMC, homeopathic practitioners are governed by the Maharashtra Council of Homeopathy (MCH), practitioners of the Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) (Ashtang Ayurveda, Sidda, Unani and Tibb) are governed by the Maharashtra Council of Indian Medicine (MCIM), dentists by the Maharashtra State Dental Council (MSDC), nurses by the Maharashtra Nursing Council (MNC) and pharmacists by Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC).

However, quite often medical practitioners are found practicing across their systems of medicine. Thus, very often, homeopathic or Ayurvedic doctors are found prescribing allopathic medicines. Another problem is that doctors registered with the medical councils of other states are found practicing in Maharashtra while doctors from within the state often do not inform the MMC registrar when they shift their practice to other states.