This post is for healthtech founders, medical affairs leads and marketers who plan to build a clinical advisory board around a product aimed at doctors. It is also for the doctors who are asked to join one and want to know what they can and cannot accept.
The question it answers: how do you structure advisory roles, honoraria and related activity so that the arrangement stands up against the conduct rules that apply to Indian doctors? This is a framework for discussion with your lawyer, not legal advice, and it does not tell any doctor what they may do. The rules are written for doctors; the company designing the programme should work inside the same limits, because a doctor who breaches them is the one who faces the penalty.
A note on sources. The conduct provisions discussed here come from the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, as amended and published on the National Medical Commission website. The NMC has since issued other documents on professional conduct and advertising. Ask your counsel to confirm which text governs the specific activity before you finalise any contract.
Why advisory boards attract scrutiny
An advisory board has legitimate purposes: getting clinical input on a product, testing workflows, shaping a clinical roadmap and building credibility with clinicians. It also has an obvious risk. Payments and perks to prescribers or referrers can look like inducements. For that reason the regulations separate real professional work from benefits that could influence clinical judgement.
For healthtech, one more point applies. The regulations refer to the "pharmaceutical and allied health sector industry". A health software or device company is likely to be treated as part of the allied health sector for this purpose, although that reading is for your counsel to confirm. Plan as if it applies.
What the regulations say
Clause 6.8.1 of the 2002 Regulations sets out the stipulations. In summary:
- Gifts: a medical practitioner shall not receive any gift from the industry or its representatives.
- Travel: a practitioner shall not accept travel facilities, including rail, road, air, ship, cruise tickets or paid vacations, from the industry for self and family for vacation or for attending conferences, seminars, workshops or CME programmes as a delegate.
- Hospitality: a practitioner shall not accept individually hospitality such as hotel accommodation for self and family under any pretext.
- Cash or monetary grants: a practitioner shall not receive any cash or monetary grants from the industry for individual purpose in individual capacity under any pretext. Funding for research and study can be received only through approved institutions, transparently and with full disclosure.
- Research: industry-funded research is permitted if specified conditions are met, including competent authority permission, ethics committee clearance, public disclosure of funding source and amount and the freedom to publish results.
- Autonomy: professional autonomy and the autonomy of the institution must never be compromised.
- Affiliation: a practitioner may work for the industry in advisory capacities, as consultants, researchers or treating doctors, provided professional integrity and freedom are maintained, patients' interests are not compromised, the affiliation is within the law and the affiliation is fully transparent and disclosed.
- Endorsement: a practitioner shall not endorse any drug or product of the industry publicly. Studies on efficacy should be presented through appropriate scientific bodies or published in appropriate journals.
The same document sets graded actions for violations. For gifts, for example, the action scales from censure for small amounts up to removal from the medical register for periods that lengthen with the amount. Treat the penalty ladder as a reason to be conservative.
Separately, clause 6.4.1 prohibits a practitioner from giving, soliciting or receiving any gift, gratuity, commission or bonus in return for referring, recommending or procuring any patient. An advisory arrangement must never be, or look like, a reward for referrals or usage.
Two clauses in tension, and how to read them
Notice the apparent tension. Clause 6.8.1(d) bars cash "for individual purpose in individual capacity under any pretext", while 6.8.1(g) explicitly permits advisory and consulting work. A sensible reading, to be tested with counsel, is that fair payment for genuine, documented professional work done under a written agreement and fully disclosed is different from a grant or gift to the individual. A payment that is not tied to defined work, or that rises with prescribing or purchasing, falls on the wrong side of that line.
Do not rely on that reading alone. Ask counsel how the doctor's employer, hospital and state medical council view it, and whether the hospital needs to approve the engagement.
Designing the board
A defensible structure has these features.
A real need. Write down what you need advice on, before you pick names. If you cannot describe the work in two sentences, you do not yet have a board.
A defined number of advisers. Choose the smallest group that covers the expertise. A large board with thin duties looks like a reward scheme.
Selection by criteria, not by sales potential. Pick on expertise, independence and availability. Record the criteria. Do not choose advisers because they are large prescribers or purchasers, and keep the commercial team out of selection.
A written agreement per adviser. It should cover the scope of services, the number of meetings and deliverables, the term, the fee basis, expense rules, confidentiality, intellectual property, disclosure obligations and termination. It should say that the adviser keeps professional independence and that nothing obliges the adviser to use, recommend or refer the product.
Fair fees tied to time. Set a rate by reference to the time and expertise needed, apply it consistently, and pay for work done and documented. Avoid fees linked to the number of users, patients, prescriptions or purchases. Avoid bonuses of any kind.
Meetings that are meetings. Hold sessions where real work happens, with agendas and minutes. Choose a venue suited to the work, not a leisure setting, and keep hospitality modest. Do not fund travel for family members.
Disclosure. Agree that the adviser will disclose the affiliation to their employer, patients where relevant and any audience when speaking about the product. Keep a register of advisers and fees and be ready to share it on request.
A firewall from sales. The commercial team should not influence the board's recommendations, and advisers should not receive sales targets or product usage reports.
What not to do
- Do not offer gifts, even small ones. The clause is not limited by value, and the penalty ladder starts at small amounts.
- Do not pay for a doctor to attend a conference as a delegate.
- Do not ask an adviser to post about the product, appear in your advertising or lend their image or voice. Our summary of the 2026 NMC advertising guidelines explains why doctors cannot be used to promote products, and the NMC compliance handbook goes further.
- Do not link any benefit to referrals, prescribing or purchases.
- Do not run a "KOL" programme as a disguised sales channel.
- Do not offer cash grants to individuals in the name of research. Route research funding through an approved institution.
