Updated 11 Oct 2026: rewritten to reflect the National Medical Commission's "Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by Hospitals/Medical Institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners" (Public Notice R-13014/01/2024-Ethics), issued on 6 October 2026 and in force immediately. For the clause-by-clause summary, see our [NMC guidelines hub](/nmc-guidelines). For what to change this week, read our [news summary of the 2026 guidelines](/blog/nmc-advertising-guidelines-2026-what-doctors-must-change).
If you are a doctor or run a clinic or hospital in India and have ever asked "am I allowed to do this?" about a billboard, a Google ad, an Instagram reel or a patient testimonial, this guide is for you. Medical advertising in India is far more tightly regulated than most professions. The rules sit across several laws and bodies, and the consequences of getting it wrong range from a takedown to removal from the medical register. Since 6 October 2026 the rules are also much more specific about digital marketing than they used to be.
A note on terminology, because it still trips people up. Doctors' professional conduct was historically governed by the Medical Council of India (MCI). The MCI was dissolved and replaced by the National Medical Commission (NMC) under the NMC Act, 2019; the Commission was constituted on 25 September 2020. People still search for "MCI guidelines", but the regulator today is the NMC, and disciplinary action is taken by your State Medical Council.
This is a plain-language explainer written by a healthcare marketing team, not a law firm. It is not legal advice. For anything with real stakes, read the official notice and confirm the position with your State Medical Council and a qualified healthcare lawyer.
The big picture: why doctors are held to a stricter standard
Most businesses in India can advertise freely, subject to general truth-in-advertising rules. Doctors cannot, and the reason is a principle worth stating plainly: medicine is a profession, not a trade, and the doctor-patient relationship rests on trust rather than salesmanship.
A patient who is frightened, in pain or facing a serious diagnosis is not in a position to weigh competing claims the way a person shopping for a phone is. The rules protect them by preventing doctors from soliciting them, from playing on their fear, and from turning medicine into a contest over who markets hardest. The 2026 guidelines state the same objectives directly: preserve the dignity of the profession, prevent the commercialisation of health care, protect patients from misleading claims, keep healthcare communication informational and evidence-based, and align hospital advertising with the standards that apply to doctors.
The bodies and laws that govern you
There is no single "doctor advertising law". Several frameworks apply at once, and one ill-judged advertisement can breach more than one of them.
The NMC's ethics framework. Two documents now work together. The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 remain in force; Chapter 6 covers advertising and soliciting. The NMC's Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication (6 October 2026) are read with those Regulations and the NMC Act, and the statute prevails if they conflict (para 4.2). Breaches are disciplinary matters for your State Medical Council.
The Clinical Establishments Act and state acts. Hospitals and clinics are covered by the 2026 guidelines too, read with the Clinical Establishments Act, 2010 or the applicable state act, which overrides the guidelines where they conflict (para 4.3). Hospitals are penalised under that act.
The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. A criminal statute that prohibits advertising remedies and treatments for a schedule of specified diseases and conditions to the public, and bans "magic remedy" claims. It applies to anyone, not only doctors.
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the CCPA misleading-advertisement guidelines (2022). Healthcare services fall within consumer-protection law, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority can act against misleading advertisements and unsubstantiated claims.
The ASCI Code. The Advertising Standards Council of India's self-regulatory code has healthcare provisions and is widely recognised. See our note on ASCI rules for healthcare.
Data-protection law. Advertising that uses digital personal data must comply with the IT Act, 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its 2025 Rules (para 7.6).
The Telemedicine Practice Guidelines, 2020. These carry their own restrictions on how teleconsultation services may be promoted.
The practical point: a single testimonial ad can breach the ethics framework, consumer law and, if it touches a scheduled condition, the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, all at once.
Where the rules stand now
For several years the position was confusing. In August 2023 the NMC notified the National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023, which included rules on social media, and then put them in abeyance within weeks. That left the 2002 Regulations as the operative code, written for newspapers, signboards and letterheads.
The 2026 guidelines settle the question for advertising and public communication. They were framed in view of a writ petition before the Supreme Court and the 2002 Regulations, and they came into force with immediate effect on 6 October 2026. Four features matter most for marketing.
Digital is advertising. Para 3.2 defines an advertisement as any communication, in any medium, that directly or indirectly promotes the services, reputation, skills, qualifications, achievements or facilities of a doctor or hospital. It names digital, social-media, sponsored, targeted, influencer-led, search-engine, platform-based, audio-visual and AI-generated communications as advertising where they are promotional. Para 3.5 lists websites, blogs, WhatsApp, Telegram, podcasts, sponsored posts, public interviews and online healthcare platforms as media.
Information to the public is not advertising. Explanation I to para 3.2 exempts information shared in the normal course without promotional intent or commercial benefit. Explanation II allows factual statements that equipment, technology, diagnostics or services are available, without superiority, guaranteed-accuracy, outcome or comparative claims.
Agencies don't shield you. Para 4.4 says that publishing through a platform, third party, advertising agency, influencer or intermediary does not absolve the doctor or institution of content they authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted.
Every post identifies the doctor. Explanation III asks a doctor publishing any electronic-media post to disclose their name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR registration number. Explanation IV asks hospitals to do the same for every doctor named in a post.
The core restrictions for doctors (para 8.1)
Para 8.1 lists twelve restrictions. In summary:
(i) No fear-based or demand-creating marketing. No advertising meant to create unnecessary demand for procedures or diagnostics, or to market through fear.
(ii) No solicitation or self-promotion. A doctor shall not solicit patients directly or indirectly, promote their services through self-promotion, "engage any third party for marketing medical services", or allow their name, image, voice, testimonial or endorsement to be used to promote services or products.
(iii) No success rates or exaggerated claims. No advertising of personal achievements, success rates or patient numbers with assertions such as "Guaranteed cures", "Best doctors", "No.1 Specialist", hundred-per-cent success, "painless treatment", "Miracle treatment" or "Exclusive cure".
(iv) No product endorsements. No approval or statement for any drug, device, diagnostic, health or commercial product used in advertising, paid or unpaid.
(v) No before-and-after or patient stories. No promotional cases, surgical results, before-and-after photos, celebrity patients or personal success stories, unless strictly scientific or educational with anonymised patient consent.
(vi) No unrealistic expectations. No misrepresented outcomes, concealed risks, or unproven or secret remedies.
(vii) No commissions or lead fees. No commission, rebate, gift, referral fee or lead-generation fee connected with the referral or procurement of patients.
(viii) Agency fees can't be tied to patients. Engagements with advertising or digital marketing agencies, influencers or platforms must not be structured so that payment is linked to procuring or referring individual patients.
(ix) No unverifiable superlatives. No "best", "No.1", "leading", "most trusted", "top", "number one" or "unmatched" unless objectively verifiable through a transparent, independent method; awards and rankings must disclose the awarding body, methodology and date. This applies to hospitals too.
(x) No inducements. No discounts, limited-period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits or free procedures that encourage unnecessary care or amount to solicitation. Factual, transparent disclosure of charges and packages is allowed. This applies to hospitals too.
(xi) No third-party endorsements. No celebrity, influencer, patient, employee or third party may promote services through prohibited testimonials or endorsements, and no intermediary may be used to do indirectly what is prohibited directly. Commercial relationships in lawful public-health communication must be disclosed.
(xii) No fake engagement. No procuring or manipulating fake followers, likes, reviews, ratings, comments or views, or search rankings and algorithms, to create a misleading impression of professional standing. This applies to hospitals too.
Testimonials, reviews and consent
This is where most Indian practices need to change the most.
Explanation V to para 3.2 bars any doctor or hospital from soliciting, buying, procuring or manipulating fake, paid or misleading reviews, ratings, testimonials or endorsements. It then goes further for doctors: a doctor shall not request or share patient testimonials, recommendations, endorsements or reviews for professional promotion on social media.
Consent does not fix this. Para 6.2 says consent does not by itself make permissible any testimonial, endorsement, promotional patient story, before-and-after or success claim. Where patient material may lawfully be used, consent must be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and verifiable (6.3), and identifying details must be removed: names withheld, and faces, birthmarks and identifying marks cropped, blurred or blacked out (6.4).
Reviews that patients choose to leave are not prohibited. The compliant approach for a doctor is to keep listings accurate, reply courteously without revealing any patient information, and stop asking. Hospitals should never incentivise reviews or filter which patients are asked.
AI-generated content
Para 7.2 is the first explicit AI rule for Indian healthcare advertising. An "AI Generated promotional campaign for furtherance of commercial interest is prohibited." AI-assisted content that otherwise complies must carry a source mark stating it is AI-generated. AI must not create misleading representations about diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, qualifications or patient experiences, and must not create or manipulate a patient's image, testimonial, voice or clinical outcome, or a synthetic endorsement purporting to come from a real patient or doctor. Patient information used as AI input must comply with privacy and data-protection law. In short: AI can help draft educational material that a doctor checks and that carries a source mark; AI avatars and synthetic patients are out.
What you are allowed to do
The guidelines are not a gag. Para 8.2 and Chapter IV keep a good deal open.
Public-health education. Para 5.1 allows awareness programmes, public-health campaigns, academic discussions and educational content that does not promote personal practice, solicit patients or get monetised through promotional marketing. Para 8.2(iii) allows lectures and talks on TV, radio and electronic media in your own name and designation, without promoting your employer.
Formal announcements. Para 8.2(ii) and 9.3 allow factual, non-promotional announcements of starting practice, a change in the type of practice, a change of address, temporary absence, resumption of practice, succeeding to another practice, and a public declaration of charges.
Research and clinic leaflets. Case studies in reputed medical journals (8.2(i)), and health-education pamphlets for patients visiting your clinic with no cure guarantee or superiority claim (8.2(iv)).
Greetings. Greetings on national days and days important to the profession, without advertising professional gains (8.2(v)).
Government campaigns. Campaigns on Government of India and state government programmes in the larger public interest are exempt (7.3, Explanation).
