Hospital and Clinic Advertising Under the NMC Guidelines (2026): NMC-Compliant Marketing

Hospitals, clinics and medical institutions in India may advertise, but only factual, objective and verifiable information about the institution. That is the core of para 8.3 of the National Medical Commission's Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication, issued on 6 October 2026 and in force immediately. Name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, services, emergency services, accreditation status and charges are allowed. Solicitation, inducements, superiority claims, cure or outcome guarantees and promotional portrayal of an individual doctor are not.

This guide is for hospital and clinic owners and their marketing teams. It covers what an institution may publish, the rules that bind institutions as well as doctors, a 12-point checklist and platform notes for Google, Meta, Google Business Profile and WhatsApp. For the rules on individual doctors, the 2002 Code of Ethics and penalties, see the complete guide to the NMC advertising guidelines 2026.

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.

Which law governs hospital advertising

The guidelines cover both registered medical practitioners (RMPs) and hospitals/medical institutions, but the two sit under different enforcement routes.

• Para 4.3: for hospitals and medical institutions, the guidelines are read with the applicable Clinical Establishments Act or Rules, or the relevant State Act. If the two irreconcilably conflict, the Clinical Establishments Act or State Act prevails.
• Para 10.1, Explanation: hospitals and medical institutions engaging in unethical advertising are dealt with under the applicable Clinical Establishments Act or State Act. The graded action in para 10.1 (warning, censure, suspension, removal from the register) is for individual RMPs and is action that "may be contemplated" by the State Medical Council.
• Para 4.4: publishing through an agency, platform or influencer does not absolve the institution of content it authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted.
• Doctors named in hospital material remain RMPs under the NMC Act. If hospital advertising portrays a doctor promotionally, the doctor is exposed under para 8.1(ii), which bars an RMP from permitting the use of their name, image or voice for promotion of services.

What a hospital or clinic may publish: paras 8.3 and 9.1

Para 8.3 has three parts.

Para 9.1 restates the position for clinical establishments: they may advertise only factual information limited to objective and verifiable particulars, including name, contact details, departments functioning, diagnostic facilities, emergency services, accreditation status, other facilities and applicable fees. It adds an important line on doctors. A hospital website directory listing its doctors' names, recognised qualifications, specialties, registration details and availability, serving a patient-information function, "shall be regarded materially distinct from a paid or promotional advertisement or inducement".

So a hospital can and should tell patients which doctors work in which department, what they are qualified in and when they are available. What it should not do is turn a doctor into the subject of an advertisement: "Meet Delhi's top knee surgeon" ads, doctor-face banner campaigns or achievement-led reels.

Equipment and technology: Explanation II to para 3.2

Information on the availability or installation of equipment, technology, diagnostic facilities or services may be shared as factual information, provided it contains no superiority claims, guaranteed accuracy, guaranteed outcomes, comparative claims or other misleading or unverifiable representations.

• Compliant: "The radiology department now has a 3T MRI scanner. Scans are available 24 hours for emergency cases."
• Not compliant: "The most advanced MRI in the city, with 100% accurate results."
• Compliant: "Our IVF laboratory offers time-lapse embryo monitoring and PGT-A."
• Not compliant: "Revolutionary IVF technique with guaranteed success."

Naming doctors in posts: Explanation IV to para 3.2

When a clinical establishment publishes electronic-media posts, it must transparently disclose the names of the RMPs involved with their qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR registration number. If a health-awareness reel features a consultant explaining a condition, the caption or end card should carry those details.

Hoardings and billboards: para 5.2

Public hoardings (municipal, transport, railway, airport) may be used only for factual information such as infrastructure and facilities. Unverified or unverifiable claims are treated as for commercial gain and are prohibited.

Rules that bind institutions as well as doctors

Most of para 8.1 is addressed to RMPs, but several sub-paras name "hospital/medical institution" expressly.

8.1(ix): superiority claims. No "best", "No.1", "leading", "most trusted", "top", "number one", "unmatched" or similar claims unless the claim is objectively verifiable, based on a transparent and independently ascertainable methodology, and otherwise lawful. Any ranking or award used in advertising must be independently verifiable, with its conditions, methodology, date and awarding body disclosed where needed to avoid misleading the public.

• Not compliant: "The best IVF clinic in Delhi."
• Compliant: "Fertility department with IVF, IUI and fertility preservation services, open Monday to Saturday."

8.1(x): inducements. No discounts, limited-period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits, free procedures or similar inducements that are likely to encourage unnecessary consultation, investigation or treatment or amount to solicitation. Any lawful disclosure of charges, packages or fees must be factual, transparent and not misleading. Publishing a price list is fine; "40% off LASIK this week only" is not.

8.1(xii): manufactured engagement. No procuring or manipulating fake followers, likes, reviews, ratings, testimonials, comments or views, directly or through a third party, and no manipulating search rankings, visibility or algorithms to create a misleading impression of professional standing.

Explanation V to para 3.2: reviews and testimonials. No RMP or institution may solicit, purchase, procure, manipulate or cause to be published fake, paid or misleading reviews, ratings, testimonials, endorsements or recommendations. A hospital may ask all of its patients for genuine feedback, but without incentives, without asking only satisfied patients, and never as a request by or for an individual doctor on social media. Replies to reviews must not disclose patient information (7.4) or make superiority or outcome claims. See Google reviews under the NMC guidelines.

Testimonials, patient stories and before-after images. Para 6.2 says patient consent does not by itself make a prohibited testimonial, promotional patient story, before-and-after depiction or success claim permissible, and para 8.1(xi) bars using a third party to do indirectly what an institution cannot do directly. See NMC rules on patient testimonials and before-after photos.

Para 9.4: platforms. Healthcare platforms that host RMPs must comply with the NMC's ethical advertising norms, must not run paid ranking of doctors and must keep listing practices transparent. If your hospital lists doctors on third-party platforms, avoid paid "featured" or "top doctor" placements.

AI content. AI-generated promotional campaigns are prohibited and permitted AI content must carry an AI source mark (para 7.2). See AI content in healthcare marketing.

12-point checklist for hospital and clinic advertising

Run every ad, landing page, post and brochure through these checks before it goes live.

1. Factual and verifiable: every statement concerns the institution's name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, services, emergency services, accreditation status or charges, and can be verified (8.3(i), 9.1).
2. No superiority claims: no "best", "No.1", "leading", "most trusted", "top" or "unmatched" unless objectively verifiable with a disclosed methodology (8.1(ix)).
3. No cure or outcome guarantees and no success-rate promises (8.3(ii)).
4. Equipment described factually, with no claims of superiority or guaranteed accuracy (Explanation II).
5. No inducements: no discounts, limited-period offers, coupons, cashbacks or free procedures; charges stated factually (8.1(x)).
6. No promotional portrayal of an individual doctor; doctors appear through a factual directory (8.3(ii), 9.1).
7. RMP details disclosed (name, qualifications, registration status, SMR/NMR number) wherever a doctor is named in an electronic post (Explanation IV).
8. No testimonials, promotional patient stories or before-after images (Explanation V, 6.2).
9. No identifiable patient data, including faces and identifying marks; consent documented where the law requires it (6.1-6.4, 7.4).
10. No fake or bought engagement or reviews, no incentivised or gated review requests (8.1(xii), Explanation V).
11. No fear-based or demand-creating messaging and no artificial urgency (8.1(i), 8.3(ii)).
12. AI-generated content labelled with a source mark and checked by a clinician; personal data handled under the DPDP Act 2023 (7.2, 7.6).

Platform notes

Platform policies apply on top of the NMC guidelines. A creative that passes Google's or Meta's review can still breach paras 8.1 or 8.3.

Google Ads and search

• Search-engine promotional communication is advertising (para 3.2). Run ads from the institution's account, about departments, services and facilities.
• Headlines: department, service, location, accreditation status, emergency availability. No "best", "guaranteed", "painless" or "100%".
• Landing pages: factual service information, charges where disclosed, and "Learn more" rather than pressure CTAs.
• Google's own healthcare policies still apply: no targeting on sensitive health data, prescription-drug restrictions, certification where required, and prices in ads that match the landing page.
• No paying for or manipulating rankings or visibility in ways that create a misleading impression of standing (8.1(xii)).

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

• Run from the hospital's or clinic's own page. Health-awareness and facility-information creatives are the safe core.
• No doctor-as-hero creatives, no testimonials, no before-after, no offers (8.3(ii), 8.1(x), 6.2).
• Meta's policies restrict targeting on health conditions and using personal health information in retargeting; build audiences from interest-based or location-based proxies.
• Watch frequency: heavy retargeting of factual ads can still read as solicitation (8.3(ii)).
• Any doctor featured in an educational reel is named with qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR number (Explanation IV).

Google Business Profile

• Name, address, hours, departments, services, attributes and photos of facilities: factual institutional information (8.3(i)).
• Business descriptions and posts without "best hospital in [city]" style claims (8.1(ix)).
• Review requests go to all patients, with no incentives and no gating; replies never confirm that the reviewer was a patient or discuss their treatment (Explanation V, 7.4).
• Angryturtle includes a GBP post library written for these limits, so teams are not drafting updates from scratch.

WhatsApp

• Para 3.5 names messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, as a medium of advertisement.
• Replies to patients who contact you are communication in the normal course. Unsolicited promotional broadcasts, offer blasts and "refer a friend" benefits are not compliant (8.1(x), 8.3(ii)).
• Message templates must not share identifiable patient data, and contact lists need a lawful basis under the DPDP Act 2023 (7.4, 7.6).

Common mistakes we still see

Across the healthcare ad accounts ICG audited in 2025, the same issues kept surfacing. Each now maps to a specific clause.

The fix pattern is the same each time: rewrite claims as factual capability statements, replace outcome imagery with process and facility imagery, remove offers, and move doctor information into the directory. Meta Catalyst IQ helps teams pre-screen creatives against platform policy before they enter the ad account.

If an ad account has already been flagged once, book a Client Elevation Programme diagnostic and we will rebuild the funnel with a compliant creative stack, or WhatsApp Rohit for a 20-minute review of your current account. ICG's Agency OS alerts the team when an ad is disapproved.