NMC Guidelines for Doctors on Social Media (2026): Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn

On 6 October 2026 the National Medical Commission issued its Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by Hospitals/Medical Institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners. They came into force the same day, and they are the clearest statement yet of what a registered medical practitioner (RMP) may post on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and every other social platform. This guide was first written around Chapter 6 of the 2002 Regulations; it now reflects the October 2026 guidelines, paragraph by paragraph.

Short version: educational posts are fine, self-promotion is not. Every post has to identify you properly, and testimonials, before-after photos, review requests and "best doctor" claims are out. For the all-up view of the guidelines (hospitals, advertising, the 2002 Code of Ethics), read the complete guide to the NMC advertising guidelines 2026. For video, see NMC guidelines for doctors on YouTube. Testimonials and reviews have their own pages: patient testimonials and before-after photos and Google reviews under the NMC guidelines.

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.

Where is the official NMC social media guidelines PDF?

People search for "NMC social media guidelines PDF". The document they need is the October 2026 notice: NMC Ethics & Medical Registration Board public notice No. R-13014/01/2024-Ethics, dated 6 October 2026. The official PDF is on the NMC website: nmc.org.in/whats-new/download/1874 (14 pages). It is in force immediately (notice para 2; Guidelines 1.2).

The rules on social media are not in a separate booklet. They sit inside these guidelines, which are read with the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2002 and the National Medical Commission Act 2019 (paras 2.1(f) and 4.2). Chapter 6 of the 2002 Regulations (unethical acts, including advertising) is still the operative professional-conduct code. Where the guidelines and a statute or operative regulation irreconcilably conflict, the statute and regulation prevail (para 4.2). The pillar guide explains how the pieces fit.

When does a social media post count as an "advertisement"?

Para 3.2 defines an advertisement as any communication that directly or indirectly solicits or promotes. It names digital, social-media, sponsored, targeted, influencer-led, search-engine, platform-based, audio-visual and AI-generated or AI-assisted communications, where they are promotional. Para 3.5 lists the media: WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, podcasts, influencer marketing, sponsored posts, AI-generated promotion and online healthcare platforms among them. Instagram, LinkedIn and X are not named one by one, but they plainly fall within "social media".

Two explanations keep this from swallowing all doctor content:

• Explanation I: information given to the public in the normal course, without promotional intent or commercial benefit, is not an advertisement. A Reel explaining what an HbA1c of 8.2 means is information. A Reel saying "book with me for diabetes reversal" is promotion.
• Explanation II: factual information on equipment, technology, diagnostics or services is allowed, but without superiority, guaranteed-accuracy, guaranteed-outcome or comparative claims.

A working test we use with hospital teams: would this post be useful to a patient whichever doctor or hospital they end up choosing? If yes, it is probably information. If it is only useful to someone already considering you, read it again as promotion.

Sponsored and paid content is covered too. A doctor making paid posts for a supplement brand, a wellness app or a device maker falls under para 3.2 (sponsored, influencer-led), and para 8.1(iv) separately bars an RMP from endorsing products.

The disclosure line every post needs (Explanation III)

Explanation III to para 3.2 says that posts on electronic media must disclose the RMP's name, qualifications, registration status and State Medical Council (SMR) or National Medical Register (NMR) registration number. Explanation IV applies the same requirement to a hospital or clinic's posts for every RMP the post names.

In practice that means the line goes on the post, not only in the bio. A format that fits an Instagram caption, a LinkedIn post and a Facebook update:

Dr [Full Name], MBBS, MD (Dermatology) · Registered with [State] Medical Council · Reg. No. [number]

Use the qualifications exactly as they appear on the register. "Registration status" means current registration; if a registration has lapsed, sort that out before posting at all. For Reels and videos, put the line in the caption and, ideally, on an end card. For a carousel, the caption is enough.

What doctors cannot post on social media

Para 8.1 lists twelve restrictions on RMPs. These are the ones that bite on social media:

Paras 8.1(ix), (x) and (xii) also bind hospitals and medical institutions, so the same lines apply to a hospital's own Instagram and Facebook pages. The institution-side rules are covered in hospital and clinic advertising under paras 8.3 and 9.1.

Testimonials, reviews and patient stories

This is the part of the guidelines that changes most social media feeds. Explanation V to para 3.2 says no RMP or institution may solicit, purchase, procure, manipulate or cause to be published fake, paid or misleading reviews, ratings, testimonials, endorsements or recommendations. It then goes further for individual doctors: an RMP shall not request or share patient testimonials, recommendations, endorsements or reviews for professional promotion on social media.

Three practical consequences:

• Resharing a patient's own post is sharing a testimonial. If a patient posts a thank-you Reel and tags you, reposting it to your Story or feed for promotion falls within Explanation V, whoever created the original.
• Consent does not fix it. Para 6.2 is explicit: consent does not make a prohibited testimonial or before-and-after lawful.
• "Patient journey" videos are still testimonials when they praise or promote a doctor. 8.1(v) allows cases only for scientific or educational purposes, with anonymised consent.

Hospitals and clinics may ask all patients for genuine feedback (no incentives, no asking only happy patients), but a doctor may not request reviews for themselves on social media. The detail is in patient testimonials and before-after photos and Google reviews and the NMC guidelines.

Patient privacy, case discussions and medical students

Para 7.4 bars publishing identifiable patient data: names, faces, anomalies. Paras 6.1 to 6.4 allow patient information or images only where the law permits and with consent, and para 6.4 requires identifying features to be blurred or cropped. Para 7.6 brings in the IT Act 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 with its 2025 Rules.

"Identifiable" is wider than a face. A distinctive tattoo, a rare presentation, a ward number and a date, or a caption like "my patient from Andheri last Tuesday" can identify someone to their family or colleagues. Screenshots of WhatsApp chats with patients, even with the name blurred, carry the same risk.

Case discussions. 8.1(v) leaves room for genuinely scientific or educational case material, with anonymised consent. A case discussion on LinkedIn or X that teaches a clinical principle, with nothing that could identify the patient and no promotional framing ("another success at my clinic"), is the kind of content that exception is meant for. Strip dates, locations, images of identifying features and anything a relative could recognise.

Medical students and residents. The guidelines are addressed to RMPs and to hospitals and medical institutions; they have no separate section for students. That does not leave students free to post case photos. The privacy law in para 7.6 applies to everyone, institutions answer for content they permit (para 4.4), and many students become RMPs within a few years with their old posts still online. The safe rule for a student or resident: no patient images, no identifiable case details, and case discussions kept to closed academic settings with your institution's permission.

What doctors can post

The guidelines do not ban doctors from social media. Para 5.1 lets RMPs take part in health-awareness programmes and produce educational content, provided it does not promote their personal practice, does not solicit patients and is not monetised through promotional marketing. Para 8.2 lists specific exceptions:

• 8.2(i) research published in reputed journals (sharing your paper, with a short summary);
• 8.2(ii) formal announcements: starting a practice, a change of type of practice, address, absence, resumption, succession, declaration of charges;
• 8.2(iii) lectures or talks on public health through TV, radio and electronic media, in your own name and designation, without promoting your employer;
• 8.2(iv) health-education pamphlets in the clinic, with no cure guarantee or superiority claim;
• 8.2(v) greetings on national days.

Every one of these still needs the Explanation III disclosure line, and none of them should end with "book now". "Learn more" pointing to an educational page is the safer call to action.

Your photograph on social media (para 9.2)

Para 9.2 says an RMP's photograph or image is not permitted where it constitutes self-advertisement. Photographs on letterheads and signboards are governed by Regulations 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 of the 2002 Regulations.

Our reading, not legal advice: a plain profile picture that identifies who is speaking, on an account that posts education, is different from promotional creatives built around the doctor's face ("Meet Dr X, Delhi's trusted knee surgeon"). The first identifies; the second advertises. When a hospital designs posts, the doctor's photo should support an educational message, not be the message.

Platform notes: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp

Instagram. Reels and carousels are where most problems start: trending audio over a serious condition, before-after grids, patient thank-you Reels, "DM for price" comments. For a clause-by-clause do and don't list, see what doctors can and can't post on Instagram. Hospital teams reviewing doctor content can use the Instagram content review framework, and this guide covers what an educational doctor profile looks like.

Facebook. Para 3.5 names Facebook. Groups feel private but are public communication once you are identified as a doctor. Do not give individual clinical advice in comments, and do not let staff post "book with Dr X" replies.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn suits research, CME and clinical commentary, which fit 8.2(i) and 5.1 well. Recommendations from colleagues are professional references; patient endorsements are not allowed. See LinkedIn for doctors under the NMC guidelines.

WhatsApp and Telegram. Both are named in para 3.5. A broadcast to a patient list announcing an "offer" is an advertisement and fails 8.1(x).

Comments. Moderate them. A comment thread full of staff replies quoting prices or saying "DM us to book" turns an educational post into solicitation.

When an agency or a hospital runs your account (para 4.4)

Para 4.4 says publishing through an agency, platform or influencer does not absolve the RMP or institution of content it authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted. "The agency posted it" is not a defence.

Para 8.1(ii) also bars an RMP from engaging a third party to market medical services. So a hospital can work with an agency on its own institutional communication, and a doctor can get help producing genuinely educational content in their own name. A doctor cannot hire an agency to run promotional campaigns for their personal practice. Paras 8.1(vii) and 8.1(viii) add that there must be no commission, referral or lead-generation fee tied to the referral or procurement of patients, and that agency, platform or influencer engagements must not be structured so that payment is linked to procuring or referring individual patients.

Whoever produces the content, sign off every post yourself, keep a dated record of what was approved, and make sure the brief to the agency forbids the 8.1 items above.

A pre-publication checklist for doctor social media

Run every post, Reel, Story, carousel and broadcast through these checks before it goes live:

1. Intent. Is this information in the normal course (Expl. I) or does it promote or solicit (3.2)? If it promotes the doctor's practice, stop.
2. Disclosure. Name, qualifications, registration status and SMR/NMR number on the post (Expl. III).
3. Claims. No "best", "No.1", "leading", "top", "most trusted", "100% success", "painless", "guaranteed", "permanent cure" (8.1(iii), 8.1(ix)).
4. Testimonials and reviews. No patient, celebrity, influencer or employee praise; no reshared patient posts; no review requests (Expl. V, 8.1(xi)).
5. Patient material. No identifiable patient data (7.4). Before-after images and cases only for scientific or educational use with anonymised consent (8.1(v), 6.2, 6.4).
6. Inducements. No discounts, offers, coupons, cashback or free procedures; any price stated factually (8.1(x)).
7. Realism. Risks and limits stated where outcomes are discussed; no fear-based hooks (8.1(i), 8.1(vi)).
8. Endorsements. No product endorsements; any commercial relationship disclosed (8.1(iv), 8.1(xi)).
9. AI. AI-generated images, voices or video carry a source mark saying so; no synthetic patients or testimonials (7.2).
10. Engagement. No bought followers, likes, views or comments; no engagement pods (8.1(xii)).
11. Photograph. The doctor's image supports an educational message and is not itself the advertisement (9.2).
12. Other laws. Fertility content also follows the ART Act 2021 (no success-rate claims, no commercial surrogacy). Content about Schedule J conditions avoids cure claims. Dentists follow the Dental Council of India code: see dental clinic advertising (DCI).

If you are building this workflow for a hospital team, our Client Elevation Programme includes a pre-publication SOP and sign-off log. Practices publishing Reels at volume often pair it with Prism Pulse, so the reviewer can see which posts are live, archived or awaiting sign-off; YODA keeps the same trail for long-form video and Shorts.

Penalties: what the guidelines say

Para 10.1 sets out graded action that "may be contemplated" by the State Medical Council for an RMP. These are not fixed fines:

• first violation: warning plus mandatory ethics training;
• second violation: censure plus a monetary penalty;
• third violation: suspension of 3 to 6 months;
• serious violations (misleading cure claims, inducements, digital mass solicitation): suspension of 6 to 12 months;
• repeated violations: removal from the register for 1 to 3 years.

Hospitals and medical institutions are dealt with under the Clinical Establishments Act or the relevant State Act (Explanation to 10.1; para 4.3). Before any action there is a show-cause notice (10.2) and a reasoned order (10.3). An appeal lies to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board within 60 days (section 30(3) of the NMC Act), with a second appeal under section 30(4) (para 11).

Complaints can come from patients, families or other practitioners. A screenshot outlives a deleted post, so the cheapest protection is the checklist above.

If a complaint or notice arrives

Treat a State Medical Council notice as a legal matter first. Take advice from a medico-legal lawyer before you reply or remove anything.

Preserve the record

Pause scheduled posts across the practice's channels while you assess. Capture the flagged post, its caption, comments and reshares, with dates. Save the brief or message that led to the post and the record of who approved it. Keep all of it in one dated folder on the practice's drive, not on one person's phone. Removing a post quietly after a notice can look like concealment, so decide with your lawyer whether to archive or hide it and say what you did in your reply.

Check the privacy side

If the complaint involves a patient image or story, the questions will include whether the law permitted it and whether there was consent (paras 6.1 to 6.4), and whether identifiable data was published (7.4). Remember that consent does not make a testimonial or before-after lawful (6.2). Under the DPDP Act 2023 a clinic handling a patient's identifiable data has its own obligations (7.6).

Brief the agency in writing

If an agency handles the account, tell it in writing what to hold, what not to touch and who owns the reply. Under para 4.4 the content is still yours. For viral posts and public criticism, see the social media crisis response guide.

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