Last checked against the official NMC guidelines (public notice dated 6 October 2026). This article is general information, not legal advice.
The short version
On 6 October 2026 the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued guidelines on how doctors and hospitals may advertise and communicate with the public. They took effect immediately, and they apply to ads, social media, websites, WhatsApp, influencer posts and AI-made content alike.
- What you cannot do: use patient testimonials or reviews, share before-and-after photos, promise cures or results, call yourself “best” or “No. 1” without proof, pay anyone per patient they bring in, buy fake reviews or followers, or use AI to make testimonials or patient images.
- What you can still do: share factual, non-promotional health education; announce a new practice, a change of address or your fees; give public-health talks in your own name; and, for hospitals, publish factual details such as departments, facilities, accreditation and charges.
- You are responsible for your agency and influencers. Hiring someone else to post does not move the responsibility away from you.
- The penalties are graded. For a doctor they run from a warning and ethics training for a first violation up to removal from the medical register for one to three years for repeated violations. State Medical Councils enforce them for doctors; hospitals are handled under the Clinical Establishments Act or the state Act.
- Do this week: look at your website, Google Business Profile and social pages for testimonials, before-and-after images, superlatives and AI-made content, and remove or fix them.
The rest of this guide explains each point, with examples.
What exactly are these guidelines?
The full title is Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by Hospitals/Medical Institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners. They were issued by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the National Medical Commission through a public notice dated 6 October 2026, signed by NMC Secretary Dr Raghav Langer. The notice says they “come into force with immediate effect” (Medical Dialogues), and Deccan Herald reports that compliance is mandatory (Deccan Herald).
Why they were issued. They were framed in view of a Supreme Court writ petition (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1160/2023) and build on the existing Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. The stated aims are to protect patients from misleading claims, protect patient privacy, prevent the commercialisation of healthcare, and keep the profession’s dignity.
Legal footing. According to Medical Dialogues, the guidelines refer to the NMC Act 2019 (including the appeal provisions in Section 30), the 2002 Regulations, the Clinical Establishments Act and state Acts for hospitals, the Information Technology Act 2000, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 with its 2025 Rules. They say they do not override existing law: if a statute conflicts with them, the statute prevails.
Who they apply to
| Who | How they are covered |
|---|---|
| Registered medical practitioners (doctors on the National or a State Medical Register) | Their own advertising, publicity, social media and digital communication |
| Hospitals, medical institutions and clinical establishments | Their advertising and public communication, enforced under the Clinical Establishments Act or the state Act |
| Healthcare platforms that list doctors | Must follow the norms and must not offer paid ranking of doctors |
| Agencies, influencers and other third parties | Not directly disciplined by NMC, but using them does not remove responsibility from the doctor or hospital that authorised, sponsored or knowingly allowed the content |
What counts as “advertising”
The definition is broad. Any communication that directly or indirectly promotes a doctor’s or hospital’s services, reputation or qualifications counts, on any medium: print, broadcast, websites, social media, messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram, podcasts, influencer marketing, sponsored posts, search and platform promotion, and AI-generated or AI-assisted content (Medvyn, BestMediaInfo). Information shared without promotional intent or commercial benefit falls outside the definition. That exception is where most of the practical questions come from, and later sections deal with them.
Exempt: campaigns on central or state government health programmes and schemes, run in the larger public interest.
What you must not do
This list follows the official guidelines, and each group was checked against the news reports. Where a rule applies only to doctors or only to hospitals, it says so.
1. Promises and superlatives
- No guarantees of cure or outcome: “guaranteed cure”, “100% success”.
- No “best”, “No. 1”, “leading” or “most trusted” unless it can be objectively verified. Any ranking or award you mention must be independently verifiable.
- No statements that create unrealistic expectations, hide risks or promote unproven therapies.
- No advertising your personal achievements, success rates or number of patients treated (doctors).
Example: “Kolkata’s best dental implant surgeon, 100% success” breaks two rules at once. “Dental implants and full-mouth rehabilitation” is a factual description.
2. Patient stories, reviews and photos
- No patient testimonials, success stories, celebrity-patient mentions or before-and-after photos for promotion. A narrow exception exists for scientific or educational use with anonymised consent.
- Doctors may not ask patients for testimonials or reviews for promotion, and may not share them on social media.
- Patient consent does not fix this. The notice says consent alone does not make a testimonial, a before-and-after depiction or a success claim permissible.
- No identifiable patient data in public: names, faces, records, clinical images. Where consent is legally required it must be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and verifiable, and identifying marks must be removed or obscured.
3. Soliciting and self-promotion
- Doctors may not solicit patients directly or indirectly, run self-promotion, or hire third parties to market their services.
- Doctors may not allow their name, image, voice or endorsement to be used to promote services or products, and may not endorse drugs, devices or products.
- No fear-based marketing and no advertising that creates unnecessary demand for procedures or tests.
- Hospitals may not run solicitation or inducements, and may not present individual doctors in a promotional way.
4. Money and incentives
- No commissions, referral fees or lead-generation payments linked to patient referrals.
- No agency or influencer contract where payment depends on the number of patients procured.
- No discounts, offers, contests, gifts or free procedures likely to encourage unnecessary consultations, tests or treatment. Stating your fees factually is still fine.
5. Fake or bought visibility
- No buying or manipulating followers, likes, reviews, ratings or search rankings.
- Healthcare platforms may not sell paid ranking of doctors.
6. Artificial intelligence
- AI may not be used to create or alter a patient’s image, voice, testimonial or clinical outcome, or to create a synthetic endorsement in the name of a real patient or doctor.
- AI may not be used to make misleading or unverifiable claims about diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, qualifications or patient experiences.
- AI-generated promotional campaigns run for commercial interest are prohibited, and permitted AI content must carry a mark saying it is AI-generated. The exact reach of this clause is discussed in its own section below.
7. Live procedures
- No commercial live broadcast of surgery or procedures, except under NMC’s applicable live-surgery framework.
8. Doing it through someone else
- You may not use agencies, influencers, staff or patients to do indirectly what is prohibited directly. You remain responsible for content you authorised, sponsored or knowingly allowed.
What you can still do
The guidelines do not ban online communication. NMC itself stressed that doctors and hospitals can still provide objective information and health education, as long as it does not mislead patients or promote services through unverifiable claims (ThePrint, PTI report). Here is what the official text permits (Medical Dialogues).
Doctors (registered medical practitioners)
- Health education. Take part in health awareness programmes, public-health campaigns, academic discussions and educational content, provided it does not promote your own practice, solicit patients or earn money through promotional marketing.
- Announcements. Factual announcements that you are starting practice, changing the type of practice or address, are temporarily absent, are resuming practice, are succeeding to a practice, or are declaring your consultation fees.
- Public-health talks. Lectures or talks on public health in the media, in your own name and designation, without promoting an employer.
- Patient information leaflets. Health education pamphlets for patients, with no cure guarantees, superiority claims or unsubstantiated statements.
- Research communication. Case studies published in reputed medical journals.
- Greetings. Greetings on national days or professional occasions, without promotional content.
- Hoardings. Public-space hoardings that carry only factual information about facilities or infrastructure.
Hospitals and clinical establishments
- Factual, verifiable information: name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, emergency services, diagnostic services, accreditation and charges.
- Announcing new equipment or technology, as long as there is no claim of superiority, guaranteed accuracy or guaranteed outcomes.
- A website directory of doctors with names, qualifications, specialties, registration details and availability. The notice treats this as patient information, not promotion.
When you post online as a doctor
Doctors posting on electronic media must disclose their name, qualifications, registration status and State or National Medical Register number, and clinics must disclose the same details for their doctors. Make this a habit in your profile bio and on educational posts.
A simple test
Before you post, ask three questions. Does it teach something a patient can use, or does it sell you? Could a reasonable patient be misled about results, risks or your standing? Would you be comfortable showing it to your State Medical Council? Content that teaches, states facts and makes no promises is the safe side of the line.
Channel by channel: where the rules bite
The guidelines name the media they cover but do not give a channel-by-channel manual. The table below applies the rules to each channel. Treat the “safer” column as our reading, not as official NMC wording, and see the open questions at the end of this section.
| Channel | Safer practice | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Clinic or hospital website | Departments, services, facilities, accreditation, fees, doctor directory with qualifications and registration details, educational articles | Patient testimonials, before-and-after galleries, “best” or “No. 1” claims, success rates, “book now” offers that push unnecessary care |
| Google Business Profile | Name, address, hours, departments, contact details, factual service list | “Best clinic” claims, asking patients to post reviews in return for anything, gating or filtering who is asked for a review, buying reviews |
| Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn | Educational posts and reels in your own name with your qualifications and registration number shown; factual announcements | Patient stories, results, before-and-after content, offers, AI-made patient visuals, paid arrangements with influencers tied to patient numbers |
| YouTube | Public-health talks and educational explainers in your own name, with no promotion of your employer | Videos built around patient outcomes, live commercial surgery streams, end-screens or captions that solicit patients |
| WhatsApp and Telegram | Replying to patients who contacted you; factual announcements | Unsolicited promotional broadcasts and offers |
| Press and media | Public-health talks in your own name and designation | Promotional interviews and sponsored articles that praise your practice |
| Google and Meta ads | Institutional, factual ads for a hospital or clinic | Ads built around an individual doctor’s superiority, results or offers; paid manipulation of rankings |
| Hoardings and signboards | Factual information about facilities and infrastructure | Superlatives, guarantees and promotional photographs of doctors |
Reviews. The guidelines bar doctors from requesting or sharing patient testimonials or reviews for promotion on social media, and bar fake, paid or purchased reviews. How this applies to reviews that patients leave on their own on Google is not spelled out, so avoid asking, and do not copy those reviews into your own promotion.
Doctor versus hospital. The guidelines are more lenient with institutions that share facts than with individual doctors who promote themselves. A common compliant model is to publish factual information through the institution’s account and keep a doctor’s personal channels educational.
Open questions the guidelines do not settle
- Where education ends and promotion begins. One doctor-commentator points out that a hair-loss article may start to look like advertising if it links to the clinic or is paid-boosted, and argues the rules should say so clearly (Dr Attili).
- Search content. Promotional search-engine content counts as advertising, but there is no detailed guidance on SEO articles on a clinic’s own website.
- Boosting educational posts. It is not stated whether paying to boost an educational post turns it into advertising, so a cautious approach is to boost only factual institutional information.
Until NMC issues clarifications, the cautious reading is the safer one.
Testimonials, before-and-after photos and patient consent
This is the part that surprises most doctors, so it is worth being precise.
Consent is no longer enough. Many clinics have relied on a signed consent form to post a patient’s photo or story. The guidelines say patient consent does not, by itself, make a testimonial, a before-and-after depiction or a success claim permissible (clause 6.2).
What this covers
- Patient testimonials, on any platform and in any form: written, video or voice.
- Before-and-after photos and videos used to promote a practice.
- Promotional patient stories, success stories and celebrity-patient mentions.
- Reviews that a doctor requests or shares on social media for promotion.
The narrow exception. Cases may be published strictly for scientific or educational purposes with anonymised patient consent, and case studies may appear in reputed medical journals. A teaching post that explains a condition using an anonymised, consented example is a different thing from a result gallery used to attract patients. The line between them is not drawn precisely, so if in doubt, leave the example out.
Using patient data at all. Patient information, photographs, videos, records and clinical images can be used for advertising only where the law permits it and consent and safeguards are in place. Where consent is legally required it must be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and verifiable, and faces, names and identifying marks must be cropped, blurred or removed. The IT Act 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 continue to apply on top of this.
Practical consequences for a clinic
- Remove or archive existing before-and-after galleries and testimonial pages from your website and social profiles.
- Stop collecting testimonial videos at the clinic.
- Do not run “patient of the month” or result-story campaigns.
- Keep consent forms for any genuine clinical or educational use, but treat them as protection for privacy, not as permission to advertise.
- Check old posts, pinned posts, Highlights and Google Business photos, not only new content.
AI content, influencers, agencies and offers
AI-generated content
The guidelines treat AI-generated or AI-assisted content as advertising when it has a promotional character. Three rules stand out:
- No synthetic patients. AI may not create or alter a patient’s image, voice, testimonial or clinical outcome, or build a synthetic endorsement in the name of a real patient, doctor or hospital.
- No misleading AI claims. AI may not be used to make misleading, deceptive or unverifiable claims about diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, qualifications, patient experiences or services.
- Labelling. Where AI-generated or materially AI-altered content is used in a way that its artificial nature may matter to the audience, it must be disclosed.
Clause 7.2 of the official text prohibits AI-generated promotional campaigns made in furtherance of commercial interest. Any AI-generated content that otherwise complies must carry a source mark stating it is AI-generated. In practice, treat AI-made promotional content as high risk. Medianama notes the guidelines do not define terms such as “materially” altered or “misleading” (Medianama). Medvyn recommends avoiding AI in promotional content until NMC clarifies (Medvyn). Reports also stress it is not a blanket ban on all AI-assisted communication (MedGate Today).
Our reading: using AI to help draft or edit a plain educational article is a different matter from using AI to make a patient video or testimonial. If you use AI for anything promotional, label it, keep a human review, and never generate patient-like faces, voices or stories.
Influencers and agencies
- Paying an influencer, agency or online platform on a per-patient basis is prohibited.
- You remain responsible for content you authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted, even if someone else publishes it (clause 4.4).
- Celebrities, influencers, patients or staff cannot be used to deliver prohibited testimonials, and intermediaries cannot be used to do indirectly what is barred directly.
Check your agency contract this week. It should say who approves content, forbid testimonials and before-and-after material, avoid per-lead or per-patient payment for patient acquisition, and require AI-labelling where AI is used. A fee for creating content or running ads is a different matter from a payment tied to the number of patients procured, but get the wording reviewed by your legal adviser.
Discounts, offers and contests
Discounts, offers, gifts, contests and free procedures are barred where they are likely to encourage unnecessary consultations, tests or treatment. Stating your fees factually is permitted. “Free consultation camp” or “20% off this week” style campaigns are the obvious risk, and the cautious course is to stop them until NMC clarifies where the line sits for genuine public-health camps.
Penalties and how enforcement works
Under clause 10.1 of the official guidelines, the State Medical Council may contemplate a graded set of actions for doctors (the word used is “may”, so it is discretionary).
| Stage | Penalty for a registered doctor |
|---|---|
| First violation | Warning and mandatory ethics training |
| Second violation | Censure and a monetary penalty (amount not stated) |
| Third violation | Suspension of registration for 3 to 6 months |
| Serious violation, such as misleading cure claims, patient inducement or mass digital solicitation | Suspension for 6 to 12 months |
| Repeated violations | Removal from the medical register for 1 to 3 years |
Other measures mentioned include corrective compliance, ethics sensitisation, restriction of registration and monetary penalty, as authorised under the NMC Act and Regulations.
Who enforces and how
- For doctors: penalties are imposed only after the State Medical Council issues a show-cause notice and hears your explanation, and it must pass a reasoned, speaking order stating the violation, your arguments and why they were accepted or rejected (clauses 10.2 and 10.3).
- Appeals: a first appeal lies to the EMRB of NMC within 60 days under Section 30(3) of the NMC Act, and a second appeal under Section 30(4) within 60 days of communication of the first decision.
- For hospitals and institutions: these are dealt with under the Clinical Establishments Act, its rules or the applicable state Act. The guidelines do not set out hospital penalties.
- Doctors linked to a hospital’s violation: where a doctor personally authorised, took part in or endorsed the prohibited communication, their professional conduct may be examined separately by the State Medical Council, EMRB or NMC.
What the guidelines do not tell us
- How complaints are filed and who receives them.
- The amount of the monetary penalty at the second stage.
- Penalties for agencies and influencers. The guidelines mainly create disciplinary consequences for registered doctors; Medianama notes there is no separate mechanism for platforms, agencies or non-medical actors (Medianama).
How this fits with other rules
The NMC guidelines are one layer among several. A compliant post has to satisfy all of them.
| Rule | What it does for advertising | Enforced by |
|---|---|---|
| NMC guidelines, 6 Oct 2026 | What registered doctors and hospitals may communicate publicly | State Medical Councils for doctors; Clinical Establishments Act or state Act for hospitals |
| Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 | The older ethics code the guidelines build on. It broadly discourages doctors from advertising skills, qualifications or achievements; the guidelines cite its Regulations 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 on self-photographs on letterheads and signboards | State Medical Councils, NMC |
| Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 | Bars advertisements for remedies with alleged magic qualities and for drugs claiming to diagnose, cure or prevent listed diseases. Penalties include imprisonment of up to six months for a first offence and up to one year for later ones, and a fine (CMS) | Courts and state authorities |
| Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (CCPA) | The authority can order a misleading ad to be discontinued or modified and impose penalties of up to INR 10 lakh for a first contravention and up to INR 50 lakh for later ones (CMS) | Central Consumer Protection Authority |
| ASCI code | Self-regulatory standards for advertising. Not enforceable by law, though non-compliance can bring reputational consequences | ASCI |
| IT Act 2000 and DPDP Act 2023 | Apply to how you collect and use patient data and images online | Under those laws |
What this means in practice. Passing the NMC test is not enough on its own. An ad that avoids testimonials but claims a cure for a disease listed under the 1954 Act can still be illegal, and an ad can be a consumer-law problem even if no medical council acts on it.
A criticism worth knowing. Dr Attili argues that the guidelines regulate registered doctors tightly while unregistered wellness influencers and others face weaker oversight, because NMC cannot discipline people who are not on the register (Dr Attili). That is a debate about the rules, not a reason to relax your own compliance.
A 10-point compliance checklist for your clinic
Work through these in order. Most clinics can finish the first six in a day.
- Remove testimonials. Take down patient testimonial pages, videos and quote graphics from your website, social profiles, Highlights and Google Business Profile.
- Remove before-and-after content. Archive result galleries and success-story posts, including old and pinned posts.
- Remove superlatives and guarantees. Search your pages and bios for “best”, “No. 1”, “leading”, “guaranteed”, “100%”, “most trusted” and “painless”, and rewrite them as facts.
- Stop offers that push care. Pause discounts, coupons, contests and “limited slots” campaigns on consultations, tests and procedures.
- Add your credentials to educational posts. Show your name, qualifications, registration status and registration number in your profile bio and on posts.
- Check AI content. Remove AI-made patient faces, voices, reviews or videos. Label any AI-assisted promotional content, or hold it back until NMC clarifies.
- Review your agency and influencer contracts. Make sure no one is paid per patient, content needs your written approval, and testimonials and before-and-after material are excluded.
- Stop asking for reviews and buying engagement. Do not request reviews for promotion, pay for reviews, or buy followers or ratings.
- Move to facts on your website. Keep departments, services, facilities, accreditation, fees and a doctor directory with qualifications and registration details, and keep educational articles non-promotional.
- Set a review habit and a record. Name one person to approve every public post, keep a log of what was removed and when, and watch for NMC clarifications.
This checklist is a practical starting point built from the guidelines. It is not legal advice, and a legal adviser should review anything borderline.
Frequently asked questions
Are the guidelines in force now? Yes. The notice says they come into force with immediate effect. No grace period is mentioned, so assume you should already be compliant.
I run a small solo clinic. Does this apply to me? Yes. It applies to every registered medical practitioner and to hospitals and clinical establishments, whatever their size.
Can I still post on Instagram and YouTube? Yes. Factual, non-promotional health education in your own name is permitted. What is restricted is promotion: testimonials, results, offers, claims of superiority and solicitation.
Can I keep patient reviews on my website if the patients wrote them? The guidelines bar doctors from requesting or sharing testimonials or reviews for professional promotion, and bar testimonials generally in promotional content. The safe course is not to display them promotionally and not to ask for them.
I have signed consent from the patient. Can I post the before-and-after photo? No. Consent alone does not make a before-and-after depiction or testimonial permissible. A narrow exception exists for scientific or educational use with anonymised consent.
Can I say I have 20 years of experience or have treated 10,000 patients? Claims about success rates, patient counts and personal achievements are prohibited for doctors. Years of experience are not addressed directly, so stick to verifiable qualifications and registration details and leave out achievement claims.
Can my hospital say it is NABH accredited? Yes. Accreditation is on the list of factual information a hospital may publish, as long as it is accurate and verifiable.
Can I use AI to write blog posts or captions? The guidelines are not described as a blanket ban on AI-assisted communication. They prohibit AI-generated promotional campaigns for commercial interest, using AI to fabricate patient images, voices, testimonials or outcomes, and misleading claims, and they require AI-generated promotional content to carry a source mark. Keep a human review and label it.
Can I run Google or Meta ads? Promotional content on search and platforms counts as advertising. A factual, institutional ad for a clinic or hospital is safer than one built around an individual doctor’s results, offers or superiority. Your agency should apply both NMC’s rules and the platform’s own healthcare ad policies.
My agency posts for me. Who is responsible? You are, if you authorised, sponsored or knowingly allowed the content. Using a third party does not remove your responsibility.
What if I disagree with a penalty? A State Medical Council must issue a show-cause notice and a reasoned order before penalising you. You can appeal to the EMRB of NMC within 60 days, and there is a second appeal after that.
Where can I get an official answer to a grey-area question? For a specific case, ask your State Medical Council or a legal adviser who knows medical regulation.
Sources
- NMC Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication (official PDF, public notice of 6 Oct 2026).
- Medical Dialogues: NMC issues ethical advertising and public communication guidelines (7 Oct 2026).
- Careers360, ThePrint (PTI), Telangana Today: news reports, 8 Oct 2026.
- Deccan Herald, The South First, BestMediaInfo, MedGate Today: reports on prohibitions, permitted activities and disclosure.
- Medianama: AI-generated advertising rules, Medvyn, Dr Attili (opinion), CMS (other advertising laws).
Limits of this guide
- Verified against the official text. Clause references follow the official NMC guidelines PDF. The amount of the monetary penalty, the complaint route, and any NMC clarifications issued later are not covered.
- Interpretation. The channel table, the checklist and the “our reading” notes are practical interpretation, not NMC wording.
- Not legal advice. If you are unsure whether a specific post or campaign complies, consult a legal adviser or your State Medical Council.
