Updated advertising and promotional guidelines from the National Medical Commission place new constraints on how doctors and hospitals communicate with the public, covering exaggerated health claims and what the body described as overly assertive marketing practices.
The rules bar physicians and healthcare facilities from drawing on patient testimonials, comparative treatment photographs, or images of surgical outcomes as tools for attracting new business. Under those guidelines, obtaining a patient's agreement beforehand does not authorise promotional imagery or testimonial-style content of that nature.
Under the framework, promotional language making absolute claims about treatment outcomes — phrases along the lines of infallible cures, perfect success rates, unrivalled practitioners, or near-supernatural recoveries — is barred as part of broader efforts to safeguard patients and maintain standards of medical conduct.
Among the prohibited practices are fabricated reviews, artificially inflated social media followings, manipulation of search engine rankings, paid product endorsements, marketing tactics that exploit fear, and price reductions or complimentary procedures offered in ways that could push patients toward unnecessary treatment.
Responses from within the medical community followed the notification's release, with K K Talwar — who previously served as director of PGI — among those expressing support for its aim of curbing unethical conduct and safeguarding patients.
Bedi, who previously served as national vice-president of the Indian Medical Association, noted that while the body accepted the notification in broad terms, the practice of treating patients outside one's own recognised medical framework — without legal authorisation or adequate training — posed a threat to patient welfare that the association viewed as more pressing.
Atul Prashar, who leads the plastic surgery department at PGI, told reporters the policy change had been anticipated for some time, while also pointing to areas where the guidelines would benefit from greater precision — particularly around patients who had already undergone procedures.
Practitioners in fields such as plastic surgery noted that conveying outcomes for conditions like burn contractures depends heavily on visual documentation, including photographs, because written clinical material alone often struggles to hold audience attention — a challenge compounded by the spread of short-form video content on social platforms, which has reshaped how patients consume information and heightened the pull toward an active digital presence.
S S Makkar, who previously held a faculty post in PGI's plastic surgery department, noted that the platform's operations fall within legal boundaries, though that compliance does not extend to individuals who access it without holding a medical qualification.
Doctors and other registered practitioners retain the ability to post factual details about where their facilities are located, what infrastructure they hold, and which treatments or services are on offer — so long as each online publication carries their registration number and stated credentials. Public health education talks and peer-reviewed research appearing in medical journals both fall within the boundaries of what is allowed.
Doctors found to have breached the rules face a graduated set of consequences administered through state medical councils, stretching from formal notices and compulsory ethics courses at the lower end through to financial penalties, temporary suspension of their registration for a period not exceeding twelve months, or outright removal from the medical register for up to three years at the upper end.
Doctors who wish to contest a decision have a 60-day window to lodge a formal appeal with the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission.
