NMC issues ethical advertising, public communication guidelines for doctors, hospitals, Details
New Delhi: Aiming to regulate advertisements and digital communications relating to medical practice and healthcare services in an ethical, truthful, transparent, and responsible manner, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) has released Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by hospitals/medical institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners.
Through a public notice dated 06.10.2026, the Ethics Board of the Commission released these guidelines and directed Registered Medical Practitioners and other concerned stakeholders to ensure compliance.
NMC has framed these guidelines in view of the Writ Petition (Civil) No.1160/2023 filed in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and the provisions of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. They aim to preserve the dignity of the medical profession, prevent commercialization of healthcare, protect patient interest and prevent misleading medical claims, ensure healthcare communication remains informational, ethical, and evidence-based, align hospital advertising practices with professional standards applicable to Registered Medical Practitioners, promote transparency while discouraging commercialization of medical care, regulate digital healthcare promotion, and ensure ethical parity across all systems of medicine, etc.
"Accordingly, the National Medical Commission (NMC) hereby informs all Registered Medical Practitioners and other concerned stakeholders, to ensure compliance with the provisions of the annexed Guidelines. The Guidelines shall come into force with immediate effect," the notice issued by NMC Secretary Dr. Raghav Langer stated.
These guidelines include issues like public awareness: public health education, patient privacy and consent. It specifies prohibited advertising practices for RMP/Clinical Establishments, advertising restrictions and permitted communications for RMPs, exceptions granted to the RMPs from such prohibitions, and also advertising by hospitals and medical institutes.
Further, these guidelines have also specified the miscellaneous do's and don'ts for the RMPs, including the responsibilities of hospitals and RMPs. The guidelines also include regulatory procedures for oversight and enforcement mechanisms, including penalties and corrective measures, appellate mechanism, and it also defines the power of NMC to issue clarifications.
♦ Why have these guidelines been issued?
While specifying the preamble and objectives of these guidelines, NMC stated that "They aim to protect patients and the public from misleading or unsubstantiated claims, safeguard patient privacy and autonomy, and uphold the dignity and integrity of the medical profession."
These guidelines have been framed for the following objectives-
♦ Scope & Applicability
√ These Guidelines shall apply to the professional conduct of the RMPs in relation to advertising, publicity, digital communication and promotional activities and to address the gap created due to advent of electronic media. These Guidelines are sought to be more comprehensive, specific and aligned to the needs of the present-day society.
√ In relation to RMPs, these Guidelines shall be read with the IMC (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, as amended from time to time, and the NMC Act, 2019. In case of any irreconcilable conflict, the applicable statutory provisions and operative regulations shall prevail.
√ For Hospitals/ Medical Institutions, these guidelines shall be read in conjunction with the applicable Clinical Establishment Act or Rules framed thereunder/ any other State Act as applicable and in case of any irreconcilable conflict between the two, the provisions of the applicable Clinical Establishment Act or Rules framed thereunder/ any other State Act as applicable shall override the provisions of these Guidelines.
√ The fact that an advertisement or promotional communication is published through a digital platform, third party, advertising agency, influencer or other intermediary shall not, by itself, absolve an RMP or medical institution from responsibility for content which it has authorized, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted. The disciplinary or statutory consequences shall, however, be determined by the competent authority under the applicable law.
♦ Public Awareness: Public health education
√ Medical Practitioners may participate in health awareness programmers, public health campaigns, academic discussions, educational content, provided that such activities do not promote personal practice, do not solicit patients and are not monetized through promotional marketing.
√ Hoardings/Billboards in public space that are let out by concerned municipal or other authorities like state transport authority, railways, airports etc., may be used by hospitals/medical institutions and RMPs only for dissemination of factual information in the nature of infrastructure, facilities etc. Unverified or unverifiable claims shall be construed as for furtherance of commercial gains, and are prohibited.
♦ Patient Privacy and Consent
√ Patient information, photographs, videos, medical records, clinical images, treatment details, testimonials or other identifiable information shall not be used for advertising purposes except where such use is permitted by applicable law and the necessary consent and other safeguards have been duly complied with.
√ Patient consent shall not, by itself, make permissible any testimonial, endorsement, promotional patient story, before-and-after depiction, success claim or other advertising practice that is otherwise prohibited under these Guidelines or applicable law.
√ Where consent is legally required, it shall be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and capable of verification, and shall comply with applicable privacy and data-protection law. The form and mode of recording consent shall be determined in accordance with the applicable law and the nature and purpose of the proposed use.
√ Even where disclosure is lawfully permitted, reasonable safeguards shall be adopted by the hospital/medical institution and RMP shall be duty bound to prevent unnecessary disclosure of names or to crop, blur, black out, birth marks/ identification marks, or other information through which the patient may be identified.
♦ Prohibited Advertising Practices for RMP / Clinical Establishments
√ 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.
√ Al Generated promotional campaign for furtherance of commercial interest is prohibited.Any Al generated promotional contentconforming 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.
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.
√ 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. Explanation - All campaigns on programmes/schemes of Government of India and the state Governments, which arein larger public interest, shall be exempted from these guidelines.
√ RMP/ Clinical establishment shall not share any patient data, such as names, faces, anomalies, etc., which can be identified publicly.
√ 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.
√ 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.
♦ Responsibilities and Ethical Communication Standards:
√ Advertising Restrictions and Permitted Communications for RMPs.
i. Shall not engage in advertisement/ activities intended to create unnecessary demand for medical procedures, promote unnecessary diagnostics and promote fear-based marketing.
ii. Shall not solicit patients directly or indirectly, promote his/her professional services through self-promotion, engage any third party for marketing medical services, permit the use of their name, image, voice, testimonial or endorsement for promotion of services or any products, participate in promotional campaigns giving an impression of commercialization of medical practice.
iii. Shall not advertise either personal achievements or professional success rates or number of patients treated with illustrative assertions such as "Guaranteed cures", "Best doctors", "No.1 Specialist", "100% success", "painless treatment", "Miracle treatment", "Exclusive cure" or any other unverifiable or exaggerated claims by whatsoever name called.
iv. An RMP shall not give, directly or indirectly, any approval, recommendation, endorsement, certificate, report or statement concerning any drug, medicine, remedy, therapeutic article, apparatus, appliance, medical device, diagnostic product, health product or commercial product for use in advertising or publicity in connection with his/her name, signature, photograph, voice or professional status, whether or not monetary or other consideration is received.
v. Shall not publish cases for promotional purposes, advertise surgical results, display "before and after" photographs, publicize celebrity patients, promote personal success stories unless published strictly for scientific or educational purposes with anonymized patient consent.
vi. Shall not publish any statement that creates unrealistic expectations, misrepresents treatment outcomes, conceals risks, promote unproven therapies, secret remedy or treatment whose composition, scientific basis, safety or efficacy is not adequately established or which is otherwise prohibited under applicable law.
vii. No RMP shall, directly or indirectly, offer, pay, solicit, receive or participate in any commission, rebate, bonus, gift, gratuity, referral fee, lead-generation fee or other consideration in relation to the promotion or advertisement of medical services, where such consideration is connected with the referral, recommendation or procurement of patients, specimens or materials for diagnosis, treatment, surgery or other medical services.
viii. The engagement of advertising agencies, digital marketing agencies, influencers or online platforms shall not be structured in a manner that results in payment or consideration being linked to the procurement or referral of individual patients.
ix. No RMP or hospital/medical institution shall make comparative claims such as "best", "No.1", "leading", "most trusted", "top", "number one", "unmatched" or similar superiority claims unless the claim is objectively verifiable, based on a transparent and independently ascertainable methodology and is otherwise permissible under applicable law.
Provided, Any ranking or award relied upon in advertising shall be capable of independent verification, and material conditions, methodology and relevant date, details of award giving organization or firm shall be disclosed where necessary to avoid misleading the public.
X. No RMP or hospital/medical institution shall use discounts, limited-period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits, free procedures or similar inducements in a manner that is likely to encourage unnecessary medical consultation, diagnostic investigation or treatment or otherwise amounts to solicitation of patients.
Any lawful disclosure of charges, packages or fees shall be factual, transparent and not misleading.
xi. No RMP shall use or permit any celebrity, influencer, patient, employee or third party to promote professional services through prohibited testimonials, endorsements or recommendations. Any material commercial relationship in lawful public-health or informational communication shall be transparently disclosed in accordance with applicable law. No RMP or hospital/medical institution shall use a third party as an intermediary to do indirectly what the RMP or institution is prohibited from doing directly.
xii. No RMP or hospital/medical institution shall procure, manipulate or cause any third party to procure or manipulate fake followers, likes, reviews, ratings, testimonials, comments, views or other digital engagement, or manipulate search rankings, visibility or algorithms to create a misleading impression of professional standing.
√ Exceptions from Prohibitions for RMP -
i. Only research-based communication, wherein they have published interesting case studies in reputed medical journals shall be allowed.
ii. A medical practitioner is however permitted to make a formal announcement regarding the following :
a) On starting practice.
b) On change of type of practice.
c) On changing address.
d) On temporary absence from duty.
e) On resumption of another practice.
f) On succeeding to another practice.
g) Public declaration of charge.
iii. Medical Practitioners may deliver lectures or talks on public health and diseases for public awareness through television, radio and electronic media in their own name and designation, without promoting their employer organization.
iv. Medical Practitioners can issue health education and general information pamphlets/ brochures to the patients visiting their clinic/ hospital but these should not contain guarantee of cure or superiority over others or unsubstantiated claims or misleading information
v. Greeting on days of national importance or related to medical profession, etc. of National Day, etc. can be given by Medical Practitioners, however same should not contain advertisement of a professional gains.
√ Hospital/Medical Institution Advertising
i. Hospitals/Medical Institutions may disseminate factual, objective and verifiable information concerning their name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, services, emergency services, accreditation status, charges and other institutional information permitted by applicable law.
ii. Such communication shall not contain patient solicitation, inducement, comparative superiority claims, guarantees of cure or treatment outcome, unverifiable or exaggerated claims, or promotional portrayal of an individual RMP. The form, medium or frequency of communication shall not convert otherwise factual information into solicitation or promotional self-aggrandizement.
iii. Where advertising is permitted under applicable law, the communication shall remain within the scope permitted by such law and these Guidelines.
♦ Responsibilities of Hospital/Medical Institutions and RMP
√ Clinical Establishments may advertise only factual information, where it is limited to objective and verifiable particulars concerning the establishment, including the name of the establishment, contact details, departments functioning, diagnostic facilities, emergency services, accreditation status, other facilities offered and applicable fees. A hospital website containing a directory of its doctors, containing the names, recognised qualifications, specialties, registration details and availability of its doctors, that serves a patient-information function; shall be regarded materially distinct from a paid or promotional advertisement or inducement.
√ Use of the photograph/image of an RMP shall not be permitted; where such use constitutes self-advertisement, solicitation or promotional publicity. In particular, use of self-photograph or similar publicity material on the letterhead or signboard of a consulting room or clinical establishment shall be governed by Regulations 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, and regarded as unethical conduct.
√ RMP can issue a formal announcement which are factual, non-promotional and limited in scope regarding starting of practice, change of address, change of practice type, temporary absence, resumption of practice, public declaration of consultation fees.
√ All healthcare platforms hosting RMP shall ensure compliance with NMC ethical advertising norms, prohibition of paid ranking of doctors, maintain transparency in listing practices.
♦ Penalties / Corrective Measures
√ In case of violation of the above guidelines, actions will be taken by the concerned SMC against the erring RMP in accordance with the provisions ofthe NMC Act and Regulations made thereunder.
The following graded action may be contemplated by the SMC concerned;
i. First Violation: Warning and mandatory ethics training.
ii. Second Violation: Censure and monetary penalty.
iii. Third Violation: Suspension of registration (3-6 months).
iv. Serious Violation (Misleading cure claims, inducement for patients, digital mass solicitation, etc.) Suspension of 6-12 months.
v. Repeated Violations: Removal from medical register for 1-3 years.
Any violation of these Guidelines by an RMP may, where applicable, constitute professional or ethical misconduct and shall be dealt with by the competent authority in accordance with the NMC Act, 2019, the applicable Ethics Regulations and the principles of natural justice. The competent authority may, where legally permissible, impose such disciplinary or corrective measures, including censure, direction for corrective compliance/ethics sensitization, restriction or suspension of registration, removal from the register for a specified period or otherwise, and monetary penalty, as may be authorized under the NMC Act and applicable Regulations.
Explanation: Hospital/medical institutions engaging in unethical advertising shall be dealt with in accordance with applicable Clinical Establishment Act and Rules framed thereunder/ any other State Act as applicable.
√ The penalties shall be imposed only after issuing a show-cause notice to the defaulting RMP and providing an opportunity to explain or clarify the alleged violation, in accordance with the applicable laws.
√ Where an RMP is found to be in violation of these Guidelines, the SMC shall issue a reasoned and speaking order setting out:
i. the specific violation identified;
ii. the contentions of the defaulting RMP/ and reasons for acceptance / rejection of the same;
iii. the reasons and basis for imposing the penalties.
♦ Appellate Mechanism
√ Any RMP aggrieved by the findings or decision of the SMC may prefer an appeal before the Appellate Authority i.e, EMRB,NMC, within 60 days under Section 30 (3) of NMC Act, 2019.
√ The Appellate Authority shall independently examine the appeal and may, where considered necessary, call for the records and direct a fresh assessment, seek additional opinion, or undertake such further examination as it deems fit in accordance with these Guidelines.
√ The Appellate Authority shall pass a reasoned and speaking order, clearly recording the basis for affirming, modifying, or setting aside the findings of the SMC.
√ The decision on the first appeal may be contested by the RMP through second appeal, in accordance with Section 30 (4), NMC Act, 2019, within sixty days of communication of such decision.
√ In case of any violation by a hospital or medical institution, the corresponding penalty and appellate mechanism, in accordance with the Clinical Establishments Act and the Rules framed thereunder/ any other State Act as applicable, shall apply. Where an RMP has personally authorized, participated in, endorsed or otherwise been responsible for the prohibited communication, the professional conduct of such RMP may separately be examined by the concerned State Medical Council, Ethics and Medical Registration Board or National Medical Commission, as applicable.
♦ Power to Issue Clarifications
The National Medical Commission may issue such clarifications, advisories, standard operating procedures or procedural instructions, consistent with these Guidelines and the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, as may be necessary for their effective and uniform implementation.
To view these guidelines, click on the link below:
