NMC Advertising Guidelines for Doctors 2026: What Changed

NMC Advertising Guidelines for Doctors 2026: What You Can and Cannot Post

The NMC advertising guidelines are the rules that decide what a doctor or hospital in India may say in public about their services. They came into force on 6 October 2026. Paid and fake patient reviews, celebrity and influencer promotion, before and after photographs and paid ranking of doctors are banned.

Health education is still allowed. Repeated breaches of the NMC advertising guidelines can mean removal from the medical register for one to three years.

Key takeaways from the NMC advertising guidelines

• In force immediately. The National Medical Commission published the NMC advertising guidelines on 6 October 2026 and stated they take effect from the date of publication, with no transition period.

• Social media is now inside the rulebook. WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, podcasts, influencer marketing and sponsored posts are all named as a medium of advertisement.

• Five penalty steps. Warning, then censure with a monetary penalty, then suspension of 3 to 6 months, then 6 to 12 months for a serious breach, then removal from the register for 1 to 3 years.

• Health education is still allowed. Doctors can run awareness campaigns, give lectures and publish case studies in journals, as long as they do not promote their own practice.

• You are responsible for your agency. Hiring a marketing agency or an influencer does not move the responsibility off the doctor.

The NMC advertising guidelines 2026 at a glance

What do the NMC advertising guidelines 2026 actually say?

The NMC advertising guidelines set out what a doctor and a hospital may say in public, and what they may not. The NMC framed them in view of Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1160/2023 before the Supreme Court of India and the existing ethics regulations of 2002. The stated aims are to stop misleading medical claims, prevent the commercialisation of health care and keep healthcare communication informational and evidence based.

The NMC advertising guidelines run to twelve sections across five chapters. Chapter I defines the terms. Chapter II sets the prohibitions and the exemptions. Chapter III lists what doctors and hospitals may and may not publish. Chapter IV covers the do’s and don’ts. Chapter V sets the penalties and the appeal route. The full text sits on the NMC What’s New page, dated 6 October 2026.

Advertising is one of several areas the National Medical Commission has tightened through 2026. Which set of rules binds you depends on where you studied and where you are registered, and our guide to which NMC rules apply to you sets out the branches. The wider changes to undergraduate medical education this year sit in the new NMC rules for MBBS in 2026. For the full picture of becoming a doctor in India, start with our guide on how to become a doctor in India.

Who do the NMC advertising guidelines apply to?

They apply to every Registered Medical Practitioner, meaning any doctor whose name is in the National Register under section 31 of the NMC Act or in a State Medical Register. They also apply to hospitals, medical institutions and clinical establishments.

For doctors, the guidelines are read with the ethics regulations of 2002 and the NMC Act 2019. Where the two cannot be reconciled, the Act and the regulations win. For hospitals, they are read with the Clinical Establishments Act or the equivalent State Act, and there the State Act wins.

Government and state government health campaigns are exempted. The guidelines say that all campaigns on programmes or schemes of the Government of India and the state governments, which are in the larger public interest, sit outside these rules.

The NMC advertising guidelines in numbers

What counts as an advertisement under the 2026 guidelines?

An advertisement is any communication that directly or indirectly promotes a doctor’s or a hospital’s services, reputation, skills, qualifications, achievements or facilities. That definition is wide on purpose.

The guidelines name the mediums they cover. The list is long and deliberate.

• Print, television and radio.

• Social media platforms, websites and blogs.

• Messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook.

• Podcasts, influencer marketing and digital marketing campaigns.

• Sponsored posts and artificial intelligence generated promotion.

• Public interviews and news articles intended for promotion.

• Online healthcare platforms, and any other audio visual or digital communication.

Two exemptions sit inside the definition. Information shared in the normal course, to the public at large, with no promotional intent and no commercial benefit, is not an advertisement. Factual information about equipment, technology, diagnostic facilities or services is also allowed, as long as it carries no claim of superiority, no guaranteed outcome and no comparison.

One practical rule follows from this. When a doctor publishes an electronic media post, the guidelines say the post should carry the doctor’s name, qualifications, registration status and SMR or NMR registration number. A hospital posting on behalf of a doctor must disclose the same details.

What is banned under the NMC advertising guidelines?

Chapter III lists twelve prohibitions for registered medical practitioners. These are the ones that change everyday practice.

• Patient testimonials and reviews. A doctor must not solicit, purchase, procure or manipulate fake, paid or misleading patient reviews, ratings, testimonials, endorsements or recommendations. A doctor must not even request or share a patient testimonial for professional promotion on social media.

• Superlative claims. Phrases such as “Guaranteed cures”, “Best doctors”, “No.1 Specialist”, “100% success”, “painless treatment”, “Miracle treatment” and “Exclusive cure” are named in the text and prohibited.

• Comparative claims. “best”, “No.1”, “leading”, “most trusted”, “top”, “number one” and “unmatched” may not be used unless the claim is objectively verifiable through a transparent and independently ascertainable method. Any award or ranking used in advertising must be independently verifiable, and the methodology and the awarding body must be disclosed.

• Before and after photographs. Publishing cases for promotion, advertising surgical results, showing before and after images and publicising celebrity patients are all prohibited, unless published strictly for scientific or educational purposes with anonymised patient consent.

• Referral money. No commission, rebate, bonus, gift, gratuity, referral fee or lead generation fee may be offered, paid, solicited or received where it is connected to the referral or procurement of patients, specimens or materials.

• Agency contracts tied to patient numbers. A contract with an advertising agency, a digital marketing agency, an influencer or an online platform may not be structured so that payment is linked to the procurement or referral of individual patients.

• Discounts and offers. Discounts, limited period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits and free procedures are prohibited where they are likely to encourage an unnecessary consultation, investigation or treatment. Publishing your charges plainly is still allowed.

• Fake engagement. Procuring or manipulating fake followers, likes, reviews, ratings, testimonials, comments or views is prohibited, and so is manipulating search rankings, visibility or algorithms to create a misleading impression of professional standing.

• Using someone else to do it. A doctor may not use a celebrity, influencer, patient, employee or third party to promote services through prohibited testimonials. Nor may a doctor use a third party to do indirectly what they are barred from doing directly.

• Product endorsement. A doctor may not give an approval, recommendation, certificate, endorsement or report for any drug, medicine, remedy, device, diagnostic product or health product for use in advertising, whether or not money changes hands.

What do the NMC advertising guidelines say about AI generated content?

An AI generated promotional campaign run for commercial interest is prohibited outright. Where AI generated promotional content is otherwise allowed under these guidelines, it must carry a source mark that states plainly that the content came from AI.

Three further limits sit under this. AI generated or AI assisted content may not be used to create or spread misleading or unverifiable claims about diagnosis, treatment, clinical outcomes, qualifications, patient experiences or healthcare services. AI may not be used to create or manipulate a patient’s image, testimonial, voice or clinical outcome, or to create a synthetic endorsement that purports to come from a real patient or doctor. Where AI altered content could reasonably matter to how the audience understands the message, that must be disclosed.

Any use of patient information as an input to an AI system has to meet the privacy, confidentiality and data protection rules. Advertising that processes personal data must also comply with the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, with the rules made under it in 2025.

What are doctors still allowed to do under the NMC advertising guidelines?

The NMC advertising guidelines set out the permitted communications in section 8.2, and they are broader than the headlines suggest.

• Public health education. Doctors may take part in health awareness programmes, public health campaigns, academic discussions and educational content, as long as these do not promote their own practice, do not solicit patients and are not monetised through promotional marketing.

• Lectures and talks. Doctors may give lectures or talks on public health and disease on television, radio and electronic media in their own name and designation, without promoting their employer.

• Published research. Case studies published in reputed medical journals are allowed.

• Formal announcements. A doctor may announce starting practice, a change in the type of practice, a change of address, a temporary absence from duty, resuming a practice, succeeding to another practice, and a public declaration of consultation charges.

• Patient information material. Health education pamphlets and brochures may be given to patients visiting the clinic, with no guarantee of cure, no claim of superiority and no unsubstantiated information.

• Festival and national day greetings, as long as they do not advertise professional gains.

• Factual hospital information. A hospital website listing its doctors with names, recognised qualifications, specialties, registration details and availability serves a patient information purpose, and the guidelines treat it as materially different from a paid advertisement.

What do the NMC advertising guidelines say about patient photographs and consent?

Patient information, photographs, videos, medical records, clinical images, treatment details and testimonials may not be used for advertising, except where the law permits it and consent has been properly taken.

The important line is the next one. Patient consent does not, by itself, make a testimonial, an endorsement, a promotional patient story, a before and after image or a success claim permissible. If the practice is prohibited elsewhere in the guidelines, consent does not override that.

Where consent is legally required, it must be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and capable of verification. Even where disclosure is lawful, the hospital and the doctor must prevent unnecessary identification, which means cropping, blurring or blacking out names, birth marks and identification marks.

What do the NMC advertising guidelines change for hospitals and listing platforms?

Hospitals and medical institutions may publish factual, objective and verifiable information about their name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, services, emergency services, accreditation status and charges.

They may not use that communication to solicit patients, make comparative superiority claims, guarantee a cure or an outcome, or build a promotional portrayal of one individual doctor. The guidelines add that the form, medium or frequency of a communication must not turn otherwise factual information into solicitation.

For listing platforms the rule is short and specific. All healthcare platforms hosting registered medical practitioners must comply with the NMC ethical advertising norms, must not allow paid ranking of doctors, and must keep their listing practices transparent.

Hoardings and billboards in public spaces let out by municipal bodies, state transport authorities, railways or airports may be used only for factual information about infrastructure and facilities. Unverifiable claims on them are treated as commercial gain and prohibited.

Responsibility does not transfer. Publishing through a digital platform, a third party, an advertising agency, an influencer or any other intermediary does not absolve a doctor or an institution of responsibility for content they authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted.

What is new compared with the 2002 ethics regulations?

Advertising by doctors was already restricted before this. The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 barred soliciting patients and self advertisement. What the 2026 guidelines add is everything that did not exist in 2002.

What is the penalty for breaking the NMC advertising guidelines?

The NMC advertising guidelines set a graded ladder. Action is taken by the State Medical Council where the doctor is registered, under the NMC Act and the regulations made under it.

A suspension means a doctor cannot practise for that period. Removal from the register means the name comes off the Indian Medical Register held by the NMC for the stated term.

Two safeguards sit around this. A penalty may only be imposed after a show cause notice and an opportunity to explain. Where a violation is found, the State Medical Council must issue a reasoned and speaking order setting out the specific violation identified, the doctor’s response and why it was accepted or rejected, and the basis for the penalty.

How does a doctor appeal?

A doctor aggrieved by a State Medical Council decision may appeal to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the NMC within 60 days, under section 30(3) of the NMC Act 2019. The Board examines the appeal independently, may call for the records, may direct a fresh assessment, and must pass a reasoned order.

If the first appeal goes against the doctor, a second appeal is available under section 30(4) of the NMC Act, again within sixty days of the decision being communicated. The Ethics and Medical Registration Board page on the NMC site carries the Board’s remit.

Where a hospital breaches the rules, the penalty and the appeal run through the Clinical Establishments Act or the relevant State Act instead. A doctor who personally authorised, took part in or endorsed the content can still be examined separately by the State Medical Council or the NMC.

What does this mean if you are still an MBBS student?

The NMC advertising guidelines attach to a doctor from the day the name enters a State Medical Register, so they apply from your first registration, not from the day you open a clinic. A student building an audience during MBBS or internship carries them into practice.

Three things matter for a student account. First, once you are registered, a post that promotes your professional services must carry your name, qualifications, registration status and NMR or SMR number. Second, the ban on testimonials covers asking a patient for one, so a habit picked up during internship becomes a breach the moment you are registered. Third, a paid partnership with a health brand is an endorsement, and endorsement of a drug, device or health product in advertising is prohibited whether or not money changes hands.

Educational content is the safe ground. Explaining a condition, correcting a myth or teaching a skill is permitted, provided it does not promote your own practice and is not monetised through promotional marketing. For other NMC work that touches students this year, our guide to the NMC task force on medical student wellbeing sets out what the task force recommended, and the web story NMC task force recommendations gives the short version.

NMC Advertising Guidelines for Doctors 2026: What You Can and Cannot Post

The NMC advertising guidelines are the rules that decide what a doctor or hospital in India may say in public about their services. They came into force on 6 October 2026. Paid and fake patient reviews, celebrity and influencer promotion, before and after photographs and paid ranking of doctors are banned.

Health education is still allowed. Repeated breaches of the NMC advertising guidelines can mean removal from the medical register for one to three years.

Key takeaways from the NMC advertising guidelines

• In force immediately. The National Medical Commission published the NMC advertising guidelines on 6 October 2026 and stated they take effect from the date of publication, with no transition period.

• Social media is now inside the rulebook. WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, podcasts, influencer marketing and sponsored posts are all named as a medium of advertisement.

• Five penalty steps. Warning, then censure with a monetary penalty, then suspension of 3 to 6 months, then 6 to 12 months for a serious breach, then removal from the register for 1 to 3 years.

• Health education is still allowed. Doctors can run awareness campaigns, give lectures and publish case studies in journals, as long as they do not promote their own practice.

• You are responsible for your agency. Hiring a marketing agency or an influencer does not move the responsibility off the doctor.

The NMC advertising guidelines 2026 at a glance

What do the NMC advertising guidelines 2026 actually say?

The NMC advertising guidelines set out what a doctor and a hospital may say in public, and what they may not. The NMC framed them in view of Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1160/2023 before the Supreme Court of India and the existing ethics regulations of 2002. The stated aims are to stop misleading medical claims, prevent the commercialisation of health care and keep healthcare communication informational and evidence based.

The NMC advertising guidelines run to twelve sections across five chapters. Chapter I defines the terms. Chapter II sets the prohibitions and the exemptions. Chapter III lists what doctors and hospitals may and may not publish. Chapter IV covers the do’s and don’ts. Chapter V sets the penalties and the appeal route. The full text sits on the NMC What’s New page, dated 6 October 2026.

Advertising is one of several areas the National Medical Commission has tightened through 2026. Which set of rules binds you depends on where you studied and where you are registered, and our guide to which NMC rules apply to you sets out the branches. The wider changes to undergraduate medical education this year sit in the new NMC rules for MBBS in 2026. For the full picture of becoming a doctor in India, start with our guide on how to become a doctor in India.

Who do the NMC advertising guidelines apply to?

They apply to every Registered Medical Practitioner, meaning any doctor whose name is in the National Register under section 31 of the NMC Act or in a State Medical Register. They also apply to hospitals, medical institutions and clinical establishments.

For doctors, the guidelines are read with the ethics regulations of 2002 and the NMC Act 2019. Where the two cannot be reconciled, the Act and the regulations win. For hospitals, they are read with the Clinical Establishments Act or the equivalent State Act, and there the State Act wins.

Government and state government health campaigns are exempted. The guidelines say that all campaigns on programmes or schemes of the Government of India and the state governments, which are in the larger public interest, sit outside these rules.

The NMC advertising guidelines in numbers

What counts as an advertisement under the 2026 guidelines?

An advertisement is any communication that directly or indirectly promotes a doctor’s or a hospital’s services, reputation, skills, qualifications, achievements or facilities. That definition is wide on purpose.

The guidelines name the mediums they cover. The list is long and deliberate.

• Print, television and radio.

• Social media platforms, websites and blogs.

• Messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook.

• Podcasts, influencer marketing and digital marketing campaigns.

• Sponsored posts and artificial intelligence generated promotion.

• Public interviews and news articles intended for promotion.

• Online healthcare platforms, and any other audio visual or digital communication.

Two exemptions sit inside the definition. Information shared in the normal course, to the public at large, with no promotional intent and no commercial benefit, is not an advertisement. Factual information about equipment, technology, diagnostic facilities or services is also allowed, as long as it carries no claim of superiority, no guaranteed outcome and no comparison.

One practical rule follows from this. When a doctor publishes an electronic media post, the guidelines say the post should carry the doctor’s name, qualifications, registration status and SMR or NMR registration number. A hospital posting on behalf of a doctor must disclose the same details.

What is banned under the NMC advertising guidelines?

Chapter III lists twelve prohibitions for registered medical practitioners. These are the ones that change everyday practice.

• Patient testimonials and reviews. A doctor must not solicit, purchase, procure or manipulate fake, paid or misleading patient reviews, ratings, testimonials, endorsements or recommendations. A doctor must not even request or share a patient testimonial for professional promotion on social media.

• Superlative claims. Phrases such as “Guaranteed cures”, “Best doctors”, “No.1 Specialist”, “100% success”, “painless treatment”, “Miracle treatment” and “Exclusive cure” are named in the text and prohibited.

• Comparative claims. “best”, “No.1”, “leading”, “most trusted”, “top”, “number one” and “unmatched” may not be used unless the claim is objectively verifiable through a transparent and independently ascertainable method. Any award or ranking used in advertising must be independently verifiable, and the methodology and the awarding body must be disclosed.

• Before and after photographs. Publishing cases for promotion, advertising surgical results, showing before and after images and publicising celebrity patients are all prohibited, unless published strictly for scientific or educational purposes with anonymised patient consent.

• Referral money. No commission, rebate, bonus, gift, gratuity, referral fee or lead generation fee may be offered, paid, solicited or received where it is connected to the referral or procurement of patients, specimens or materials.

• Agency contracts tied to patient numbers. A contract with an advertising agency, a digital marketing agency, an influencer or an online platform may not be structured so that payment is linked to the procurement or referral of individual patients.

• Discounts and offers. Discounts, limited period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits and free procedures are prohibited where they are likely to encourage an unnecessary consultation, investigation or treatment. Publishing your charges plainly is still allowed.

• Fake engagement. Procuring or manipulating fake followers, likes, reviews, ratings, testimonials, comments or views is prohibited, and so is manipulating search rankings, visibility or algorithms to create a misleading impression of professional standing.

• Using someone else to do it. A doctor may not use a celebrity, influencer, patient, employee or third party to promote services through prohibited testimonials. Nor may a doctor use a third party to do indirectly what they are barred from doing directly.

• Product endorsement. A doctor may not give an approval, recommendation, certificate, endorsement or report for any drug, medicine, remedy, device, diagnostic product or health product for use in advertising, whether or not money changes hands.

What do the NMC advertising guidelines say about AI generated content?

An AI generated promotional campaign run for commercial interest is prohibited outright. Where AI generated promotional content is otherwise allowed under these guidelines, it must carry a source mark that states plainly that the content came from AI.

Three further limits sit under this. AI generated or AI assisted content may not be used to create or spread misleading or unverifiable claims about diagnosis, treatment, clinical outcomes, qualifications, patient experiences or healthcare services. AI may not be used to create or manipulate a patient’s image, testimonial, voice or clinical outcome, or to create a synthetic endorsement that purports to come from a real patient or doctor. Where AI altered content could reasonably matter to how the audience understands the message, that must be disclosed.

Any use of patient information as an input to an AI system has to meet the privacy, confidentiality and data protection rules. Advertising that processes personal data must also comply with the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, with the rules made under it in 2025.

What are doctors still allowed to do under the NMC advertising guidelines?

The NMC advertising guidelines set out the permitted communications in section 8.2, and they are broader than the headlines suggest.

• Public health education. Doctors may take part in health awareness programmes, public health campaigns, academic discussions and educational content, as long as these do not promote their own practice, do not solicit patients and are not monetised through promotional marketing.

• Lectures and talks. Doctors may give lectures or talks on public health and disease on television, radio and electronic media in their own name and designation, without promoting their employer.

• Published research. Case studies published in reputed medical journals are allowed.

• Formal announcements. A doctor may announce starting practice, a change in the type of practice, a change of address, a temporary absence from duty, resuming a practice, succeeding to another practice, and a public declaration of consultation charges.

• Patient information material. Health education pamphlets and brochures may be given to patients visiting the clinic, with no guarantee of cure, no claim of superiority and no unsubstantiated information.

• Festival and national day greetings, as long as they do not advertise professional gains.

• Factual hospital information. A hospital website listing its doctors with names, recognised qualifications, specialties, registration details and availability serves a patient information purpose, and the guidelines treat it as materially different from a paid advertisement.

What do the NMC advertising guidelines say about patient photographs and consent?

Patient information, photographs, videos, medical records, clinical images, treatment details and testimonials may not be used for advertising, except where the law permits it and consent has been properly taken.

The important line is the next one. Patient consent does not, by itself, make a testimonial, an endorsement, a promotional patient story, a before and after image or a success claim permissible. If the practice is prohibited elsewhere in the guidelines, consent does not override that.

Where consent is legally required, it must be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and capable of verification. Even where disclosure is lawful, the hospital and the doctor must prevent unnecessary identification, which means cropping, blurring or blacking out names, birth marks and identification marks.

What do the NMC advertising guidelines change for hospitals and listing platforms?

Hospitals and medical institutions may publish factual, objective and verifiable information about their name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, services, emergency services, accreditation status and charges.

They may not use that communication to solicit patients, make comparative superiority claims, guarantee a cure or an outcome, or build a promotional portrayal of one individual doctor. The guidelines add that the form, medium or frequency of a communication must not turn otherwise factual information into solicitation.

For listing platforms the rule is short and specific. All healthcare platforms hosting registered medical practitioners must comply with the NMC ethical advertising norms, must not allow paid ranking of doctors, and must keep their listing practices transparent.

Hoardings and billboards in public spaces let out by municipal bodies, state transport authorities, railways or airports may be used only for factual information about infrastructure and facilities. Unverifiable claims on them are treated as commercial gain and prohibited.

Responsibility does not transfer. Publishing through a digital platform, a third party, an advertising agency, an influencer or any other intermediary does not absolve a doctor or an institution of responsibility for content they authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted.

What is new compared with the 2002 ethics regulations?

Advertising by doctors was already restricted before this. The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 barred soliciting patients and self advertisement. What the 2026 guidelines add is everything that did not exist in 2002.

What is the penalty for breaking the NMC advertising guidelines?

The NMC advertising guidelines set a graded ladder. Action is taken by the State Medical Council where the doctor is registered, under the NMC Act and the regulations made under it.

A suspension means a doctor cannot practise for that period. Removal from the register means the name comes off the Indian Medical Register held by the NMC for the stated term.

Two safeguards sit around this. A penalty may only be imposed after a show cause notice and an opportunity to explain. Where a violation is found, the State Medical Council must issue a reasoned and speaking order setting out the specific violation identified, the doctor’s response and why it was accepted or rejected, and the basis for the penalty.

How does a doctor appeal?

A doctor aggrieved by a State Medical Council decision may appeal to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the NMC within 60 days, under section 30(3) of the NMC Act 2019. The Board examines the appeal independently, may call for the records, may direct a fresh assessment, and must pass a reasoned order.

If the first appeal goes against the doctor, a second appeal is available under section 30(4) of the NMC Act, again within sixty days of the decision being communicated. The Ethics and Medical Registration Board page on the NMC site carries the Board’s remit.

Where a hospital breaches the rules, the penalty and the appeal run through the Clinical Establishments Act or the relevant State Act instead. A doctor who personally authorised, took part in or endorsed the content can still be examined separately by the State Medical Council or the NMC.

What does this mean if you are still an MBBS student?

The NMC advertising guidelines attach to a doctor from the day the name enters a State Medical Register, so they apply from your first registration, not from the day you open a clinic. A student building an audience during MBBS or internship carries them into practice.

Three things matter for a student account. First, once you are registered, a post that promotes your professional services must carry your name, qualifications, registration status and NMR or SMR number. Second, the ban on testimonials covers asking a patient for one, so a habit picked up during internship becomes a breach the moment you are registered. Third, a paid partnership with a health brand is an endorsement, and endorsement of a drug, device or health product in advertising is prohibited whether or not money changes hands.

Educational content is the safe ground. Explaining a condition, correcting a myth or teaching a skill is permitted, provided it does not promote your own practice and is not monetised through promotional marketing.

If you studied medicine abroad, the same rules apply once you are registered in India. The route to that registration is set out in our guide to medical registration in India after MBBS in Europe, and the internship and registration sequence for foreign medical graduates is covered in FMG internship and registration.

What should a doctor do about the NMC advertising guidelines this week?

1. Read the notice itself. Open the NMC guidelines dated 6 October 2026, linked in the sources below, and read Chapter III, which is where the prohibitions and the permitted communications sit.

2. Take down patient testimonials. Remove patient reviews, recommendations and testimonials that you posted or asked for, on every account you control.

3. Remove before and after images. Delete surgical result posts and before and after photographs unless they are genuinely scientific or educational and the patient is anonymised with consent.

4. Strip superlative wording. Search your profile, website and clinic signage for “best”, “No.1”, “top”, “100% success”, “painless” and “guaranteed”, and remove them unless you can show an independently verifiable basis.

5. Add your registration details. Put your name, qualifications, registration status and NMR or SMR number on your professional profile and on promotional posts.

6. Check your agency contract. If payment to a marketing agency, an influencer or a listing platform is tied to patient numbers or referrals, that structure is prohibited and the contract needs changing.

7. Check the platforms that list you. Paid ranking of doctors on a listing platform is barred, so ask any platform that lists you how its ranking works.

Sources

• Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication by Hospitals/Medical Institutions and Registered Medical Practitioners, No. R-13014/01/2024-Ethics, National Medical Commission, 6 October 2026

• National Medical Commission, What’s New notices page

• National Medical Commission, Ethics and Medical Registration Board

• Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002

• National Medical Commission, Rules and Regulations

• National Medical Commission, Indian Medical Register