Doctors, hospitals cannot use AI generated promotional campaigns for commercial interest: NMC
New Delhi: The Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) has prohibited AI-Generated promotional campaigns for furtherance of commercial interests under the newly released Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by hospitals/medical institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners.
Further, the Commission has insisted on the compulsory use of a source mark, explicitly stating that the origin of the content is AI when AI-generated promotional content, which conforms to these guidelines, is used.
NMC has also barred doctors and hospitals from live broadcast or commercial dissemination of surgical or clinical procedures in a manner that does not conform to NMC guidelines.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the NMC Ethics Board released these guidelines on 06.10.2026 to regulate advertisements and digital communications relating to medical practice and healthcare services in an ethical, truthful, transparent, and responsible manner.
Under Chapter II of these guidelines, NMC has specified the prohibited advertising practices for RMP/Clinical Establishments. The Commission has discussed the do's and don'ts for doctors and clinical establishments when using social media, AI-generated content, live broadcasts of surgeries, etc.
♦ Prohibited Advertising Practices for RMP / Clinical Establishments
√ Use of Social Media:
Discussing the permissible way of using social media, NMC has stated that RMP/Clinical Establishments should use the social media in the most responsible manner and with the sole intention to balance public dissemination of information with utmost enforcement of patient integrity, along with stringent adherence to professional ethics.
√ AI-Generated Content:
In releasing these guidelines, NMC has also clarified what is and isn't allowed when doctors or clinical establishments use AI-generated content.
"Al Generated promotional campaign for furtherance of commercial interest is prohibited. Any Al generated promotional content conforming to the provisions of these guidelines, the Regulations, and applicable Clinical Establishment Act and rules framed thereunder/ any other State Act as applicable, shall compulsorily carry the source mark, explicitly stating that the origin of the content is Al," the new guidelines said.
Doctors and hospitals have to adhere to the following rules while using AI-Generated content:
a) Al-generated or Al-assisted content shall not be used by an RMP or hospital/medical institution to create or disseminate misleading, deceptive or unverifiable representations concerning diagnosis, treatment, clinical outcomes, professional qualifications, patient experiences or healthcare services.
b) Al shall not be used to create or manipulate a patient's image, testimonial, voice or clinical outcome, or to create a synthetic endorsement or representation purporting to be that of an actual patient, RMP or other person.
c) Where Al-generated or materially Al-altered content is used in a manner in which its artificial nature may reasonably be material to the audience's understanding of the communication, appropriate disclosure shall be made.
d) Any use of patient information as input for an Al system shall comply with applicable privacy, confidentiality, data-protection and professional-ethics requirements.
√ Government Schemes Exempted:
NMC said that the prohibited practices relating to advertising, publicity, solicitation, endorsements, testimonials, patient images, misleading claims and digital manipulation shall be governed by Chapter III of these Guidelines.
RMPs and clinical establishments shall also comply with the specific requirements relating to patient privacy, digital communication and Al contained in pre-paras of this Chapter, the guidelines added.
However, the Commission has clarified in these guidelines that the Government schemes are exempted from these guidelines. "All campaigns on programmes/schemes of Government of India and the state Governments, which are in larger public interest, shall be exempted from these guidelines," it stated.
√ Use of Patient-Data:
NMC clarified in these guidelines that RMPs/Clinical establishment shall not share any patient data, such as names, faces, anomalies, etc., which can be identified publicly.
√ Live Broadcast of Surgeries:
The Ethics Board of NMC has clarified in these guidelines that nothing in these guidelines shall be construed as permitting the live broadcast or commercial dissemination of surgical or clinical procedures in a manner inconsistent with the applicable NMC guidelines, directions or advisories relating to live surgery broadcasts.
"Any live surgery broadcast shall comply with the applicable NMC framework governing patient safety, consent, privacy, educational purpose, sponsorship, commercialization and professional conduct," it said.
√ Use of Personal Data:
These guidelines mentioned that advertisement under these Guidelines involving processing, publication, storage, disclosure or other use of digital personal data shall comply with the provision of Information Technology Act, 2000; Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and Rules made thereunder in 2025, to the extent applicable and in force from time to time.
