NMC social media guidelines: the rules on how Indian doctors and hospitals may communicate on social media.
"NMC social media guidelines" is the common name for the social media rules in the National Medical Commission's Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by Hospitals/Medical Institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners, issued on 6 October 2026. They allow educational content, bar self-promotion and solicitation, and require every post to disclose the doctor's name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR number.
Updated 8 October 2026 to the National Medical Commission's Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by Hospitals/Medical Institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners (public notice No. R-13014/01/2024-Ethics, dated 6 October 2026, in force immediately). Paragraph numbers in this article refer to those guidelines. General information, not legal advice.
What the term covers.
There is no separate NMC social media booklet. The rules sit inside the October 2026 guidelines (public notice No. R-13014/01/2024-Ethics, official PDF), read with the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2002 and the NMC Act 2019. Earlier versions of this entry attributed them to 2023 regulations; that was wrong. The key elements:
- Scope. Any communication that directly or indirectly solicits or promotes is an advertisement, including social-media, sponsored, influencer-led and AI-generated content (para 3.2). Information given in the normal course without promotional intent is exempt (Explanation I).
- Disclosure. Name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR registration number on every post (Explanations III and IV).
- Allowed. Educational content that does not promote the doctor's practice or solicit patients (para 5.1); public-health talks in the doctor's own name and designation (8.2(iii)); research, formal announcements, national-day greetings (8.2).
- Barred. Self-promotion and solicitation (8.1(ii)), superlatives (8.1(iii), (ix)), testimonials and review requests (Explanation V, 8.1(xi)), before-after photos (8.1(v)), offers (8.1(x)), fake engagement (8.1(xii)), identifiable patient data (7.4).
- Responsibility. Posting through an agency or influencer does not shift responsibility (para 4.4). The State Medical Council may contemplate graded action from a warning to removal from the register (para 10.1).
Full explanation with platform examples: NMC guidelines for doctors on social media. The whole framework: complete guide to the NMC advertising guidelines 2026.
How ICG uses this.
ICG runs a social media compliance workflow for managed clients: content briefs, disclosure lines, endorsement and testimonial checks, and post-approval logs are maintained centrally, and doctors' content stays educational and in their own name and designation (para 8.2(iii)). Related: NMC Guidelines Marketing, ASCI Medical Guidelines, Patient Testimonial Consent.
Frequently asked questions.
Can doctors post educational Instagram content?
Yes. Para 5.1 of the NMC guidelines of 6 October 2026 lets doctors produce educational content provided it does not promote their personal practice, does not solicit patients and is not monetised through promotional marketing. Each post must disclose the doctor's name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR registration number (Explanation III to para 3.2).
Can doctors endorse products or brands on social media?
No. Para 8.1(iv) bars product endorsements by doctors, and sponsored or influencer-led content counts as advertising when promotional (para 3.2). Para 8.1(xi) also requires commercial relationships to be disclosed and bars using a third party to do indirectly what is prohibited. Disclosure does not make an endorsement acceptable.
Can doctors respond to patient reviews?
Yes, carefully. A reply must not disclose patient information, including confirming that the reviewer is a patient (para 7.4), and must not make superiority or outcome claims (paras 8.1(iii), 8.1(ix)). Separately, Explanation V bars a doctor from requesting or sharing patient testimonials or reviews for professional promotion on social media.
What about medical influencer collaborations?
Influencer-led and sponsored communications are named in para 3.2, and influencer marketing is listed as a medium in para 3.5. A doctor may not endorse products (8.1(iv)), use celebrity or influencer testimonials (8.1(xi)) or engage a third party to market medical services (8.1(ii)). Publishing through an influencer does not shift responsibility (para 4.4).
How ICG works within these guidelines
ICG is a healthcare marketing agency. Our clients are hospitals, clinics and medical institutions, which may publish factual, objective and verifiable information about themselves (paras 8.3 and 9.1). For individual doctors, ICG supports only genuinely educational content in the doctor's own name and designation (para 8.2(iii)). For doctors and their practices, we run patient-education-driven campaigns: awareness content that helps patients understand their condition and their options, published in the doctor's own name and designation (para 8.2(iii)) and kept free of the self-promotion that para 8.1(ii) bars.
The work is education-first and runs across six channels:
- Awareness content on YouTube. Doctor-led educational videos on public health and disease awareness, in the doctor's own name and designation, without promoting the employer organisation (para 8.2(iii)). See YODA and YouTube marketing for healthcare.
- Research articles and blogs that help patients understand their options: information shared in the normal course, not promotion (para 3.2, Explanation I). See healthcare content marketing, ICG research reports and healthcare SEO.
- Expert answers on Reddit and Quora from named, disclosed accounts. No anonymous or fake posts, no undisclosed commercial relationships and no manufactured engagement (paras 8.1(xi) and 8.1(xii)). See Reddit and Quora programmes.
- Awareness campaigns on Meta, run from the hospital's or clinic's own page, with no discounts, offers, free procedures or other inducements (paras 8.1(x) and 8.3). See Meta advertising for hospitals and clinics.
- NMC-compliant Google Ads landing pages: factual departments, services and facilities, with no "best", "No.1", "100% success", "painless" or "guaranteed" claims (paras 8.1(iii) and 8.1(ix)). See Google Ads for hospitals and clinics.
- "Learn More" instead of "Book Now" on patient-facing pages, so that a page informs rather than solicits (paras 8.1(ii) and 8.3(ii)).
All six rest on three kinds of content: scientific (evidence-based, checked by a qualified clinician), persona-based (written for the questions a specific patient group asks) and consumer-based (built from how people search, compare and decide). AI-assisted drafts go through human medical review, and AI-generated content that is published carries an AI source mark (para 7.2). We do not publish patient testimonials, before-and-after images or superiority claims, and we never buy, incentivise or gate reviews.
Free NMC compliance check. We review a hospital's or clinic's website, Google Business Profile and social channels against the October 2026 guidelines and send back a written list of fixes.
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General information, not legal advice. Source: NMC public notice No. R-13014/01/2024-Ethics, 6 October 2026.
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