What do NMC ethical advertising guidelines say about patient privacy and consent?
New Delhi: The National Medical Commission has barred doctors and clinical establishments from using patient information, photographs, videos, medical records, and other identifiable information for advertising purposes.
Releasing the Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by hospitals/medical institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) has clarified that patient consent shall not make permissible any testimonial, endorsement, or promotional patient story.
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 I of these guidelines, NMC has discussed the issue of patient privacy and the idea of consent in advertising practices. The Apex Medical Commission has laid down the following rules regarding patient privacy and consent for advertising.
√ 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.
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.
