Medical advertising rules in India: a practical checklist for doctors, clinics and hospitals

Not legal advice. This guide summarises public rules and links each one to its source, as checked on 19 October 2026 (NMC clauses re-read against the notice on 21 October 2026). For a specific ad, check with your council or a lawyer.

What changed on 6 October 2026

The National Medical Commission issued the Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication (public notice R-13014/01/2024-Ethics), in force with immediate effect. They cover registered medical practitioners and hospitals or medical institutions, in every medium, and count search-engine, sponsored and targeted ads as advertising where they are promotional (section 3.2).

• Doctors may not use marketers. An individual doctor shall not solicit patients directly or indirectly, self-promote, or engage any third party for marketing medical services (section 8.1(ii)).
• No pay per patient. No commission, referral fee or lead-generation fee connected with procuring patients (8.1(vii)), and agency, influencer or platform fees must not be linked to the procurement or referral of individual patients (8.1(viii)).
• No doing it through someone else. No doctor or hospital may use a third party as an intermediary to do indirectly what it may not do directly (8.1(xi)).
• Doctors named on every post. Electronic media posts by an establishment should disclose its doctors’ names, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR numbers (Explanation IV to section 3.2).
• Reviews and AI. Fake, paid or misleading reviews and testimonials are barred for doctors and hospitals (Explanation V), and AI-generated promotional campaigns for commercial interest are prohibited (7.2).
• Hospitals answer to state law. For hospitals, the guidelines are read with the state Clinical Establishments law, which overrides them where the two conflict (4.3), and hospital breaches are dealt with under that law (10.1, Explanation).

For doctors, State Medical Councils apply a graded ladder (section 10.1): a warning and ethics training for a first violation, censure and a fine for a second, suspension for 3 to 6 months for a third, 6 to 12 months for serious violations such as misleading cure claims or digital mass solicitation, and removal from the register for 1 to 3 years for repeated violations.

Who these rules bind

• Doctors: the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 and the 6 October 2026 guidelines, enforced by State Medical Councils.
• Dentists: the Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014, restated in the National Dental Commission’s advisory of 14 October 2026.
• Hospitals and clinical establishments: the state Clinical Establishments law, read with the NMC guidelines.
• Everyone who publishes an ad: the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, the ASCI Code, and Google’s own ad policies.

What you may say

The rules are clearer about what is allowed than most people expect.

• Hospitals and clinics: factual, objective and verifiable information about name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, services, emergency services, accreditation status and charges (sections 8.3(i) and 9.1).
• A doctor directory on a hospital website with names, recognised qualifications, specialties, registration details and availability. NMC treats it as distinct from a promotional ad (9.1).
• Equipment and services stated as fact, with no claims of superiority, guaranteed accuracy or guaranteed outcomes (Explanation II to section 3.2).
• Individual doctors: formal announcements on starting practice, change of practice type or address, temporary absence, resumption, succeeding to a practice and public declaration of fees (8.2(ii), 9.3), plus non-promotional health education (5.1, 8.2(iii) and (iv)).
• Dentists: websites with factual information, treatment facilities and fees (clause 8.2.9 of the 2014 dental code).

A doctor’s own electronic media posts should show their name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR number (Explanation III).

What you may not say

Testimonials and reviews

• No doctor or hospital shall solicit, purchase, procure, manipulate or cause to be published fake, paid or misleading patient reviews, ratings or testimonials. A doctor shall not request or share patient testimonials or reviews for professional promotion on social media (Explanation V).
• Patient consent does not, by itself, make a prohibited testimonial or patient story permissible (6.2).
• No doctor may use a celebrity, influencer, patient, employee or third party to promote services through prohibited testimonials (8.1(xi)), and no one may buy or manipulate followers, likes, reviews or search rankings (8.1(xii)).
• Dentists: the NDC advisory of 14 October 2026 cautioned against patient testimonials. ASCI’s guidelines on synthetically generated content bar AI-made testimonials of real people.

Safest reading for hospitals: leave genuine testimonials out too. The text bars fake, paid or misleading ones and anything “otherwise prohibited”; it does not spell out a blanket ban on genuine hospital testimonials. Reply to Google reviews politely without confirming that the person is a patient, and do not copy reviews into ads.

Before-and-after images

• A doctor shall not publish cases for promotion, advertise surgical results, display “before and after” photographs or promote personal success stories, unless strictly for scientific or educational purposes with anonymised patient consent (8.1(v)).
• No sharing of patient data, such as names, faces or anomalies, that can be identified publicly (7.4), and identifying marks must be cropped, blurred or blacked out even where disclosure is lawful (6.4).
• AI must not be used to create or manipulate a patient’s image, testimonial, voice or clinical outcome (7.2(b)).

“Best”, “No. 1” and awards

• No comparative claims such as “best”, “No.1”, “leading”, “most trusted”, “top”, “number one” or “unmatched” unless objectively verifiable by a transparent, independent method. Rankings and awards must be verifiable, with method, date and awarding organisation disclosed where needed (8.1(ix)).
• ASCI’s awards and rankings guideline: name the awarding organisation and the month and year; an annual award is valid for 12 months.
• Dentists: no boastful claims of being the “best” or “first” (8.2.7), and no claim to superiority or special skills (8.2.8).

Cures, guarantees and success rates

• No “Guaranteed cures”, “Best doctors”, “No.1 Specialist”, “100% success”, “painless treatment”, “Miracle treatment” or “Exclusive cure”, and no success rates or patient numbers (8.1(iii)).
• No statement that creates unrealistic expectations, misrepresents outcomes or conceals risks (8.1(vi)), and no fear-based marketing (8.1(i)).
• The DMR Act, 1954 bars ads for a drug or remedy that suggest it treats or prevents any disease or condition in its Schedule, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease or obesity (section 3).

Hiring a marketing agency: what the guidelines say

This part matters to anyone hiring an agency, including us.

• Doctors: shall not engage any third party for marketing medical services (8.1(ii)).
• Fees: no lead-generation or referral fee connected with procuring patients (8.1(vii)); agency engagement must not link payment to individual patients (8.1(viii)).
• Intermediaries: no doctor or hospital may use a third party to do indirectly what it may not do directly (8.1(xi)).
• Responsibility: using an agency or platform does not absolve the doctor or institution of content it authorised, commissioned or knowingly permitted (4.4).
• Platforms: healthcare platforms that list doctors must not sell paid rankings (9.4).
• Dentists: no agent or canvasser to obtain patients in a commercial manner (dental code 8.1.4).

In plain terms: an individual doctor promoting their own practice through an agency is on difficult ground. A hospital or clinical establishment publishing factual information is on firmer ground, if the agency is paid a fixed fee rather than per patient and the establishment approves what goes out. That is how Aglocom works, and why we work with establishments; see our healthcare marketing agency page. Ask your council or lawyer before hiring anyone, including us.

Offers, doctor photos, AI and patient data

Discounts and offers

No discounts, limited-period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits or free procedures in a manner likely to encourage unnecessary consultation, tests or treatment, or that amounts to soliciting patients (8.1(x)). Fees and packages may be disclosed if factual and transparent. The dental code also bars camps and handbill promotions aimed at schools, colleges and old-age homes, except fully free charitable care (8.1.2).

The doctor’s photograph

A doctor’s photograph may not be used where it amounts to self-advertisement or solicitation, and a self-photograph on a letterhead or signboard is unethical under regulations 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 of the 2002 regulations (9.2). Hospital ads must not include promotional portrayal of an individual doctor (8.3(ii)).

AI-generated content

AI-generated promotional campaigns for commercial interest are prohibited. Any AI content that does comply must carry a source mark saying it came from AI, and must not mislead about diagnosis, outcomes, qualifications or patient experiences (7.2).

Patient data in follow-up

Ads that use personal data must comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its 2025 Rules (7.6). In practice: reply only to people who asked to be contacted, about what they asked, keep health details out of ad platforms and shared sheets, and stop when asked.

Google Ads rules for healthcare in India

Google applies its own policies on top of Indian law. From the Healthcare and medicines policy:

• Prescription drugs cannot be promoted in ads or on landing pages in India.
• Ads for prenatal gender determination are not allowed in India.
• Speculative and experimental medical treatments are not allowed.

Google’s Personalized advertising policy treats health as a sensitive category, so do not plan health campaigns around remarketing or uploaded patient lists. Use keyword-targeted Search campaigns instead.

The checklist

Run every ad, landing page, Business Profile post and social post through this list before it goes live.

Print the checklist

Frequently asked questions

Sources and status

Status as checked on 19 October 2026.

• NMC Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication, 6 October 2026, notice R-13014/01/2024-Ethics. In force with immediate effect; framed under the 2002 regulations and Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1160/2023. We found no stay or withdrawal. The PDF is the notice as published by Medical Dialogues on 7 October 2026; we could not find it on nmc.org.in.
• Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, regulation 6.1. In force.
• NMC Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023: in abeyance by the NMC notification of 23 August 2023; NMC’s regulations page listed no further notification.
• Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014, clauses 8.1 to 8.3 (Tamil Nadu Dental Council copy). In force; restated by the NDC advisory of 14 October 2026, as reported by Medical Dialogues.
• Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. In force; a criminal law.
• ASCI Code and guidelines, including Awards/Rankings and Synthetically Generated Content. Self-regulation.
• Google Ads Healthcare and medicines policy and Personalized advertising policy.