New NMC and NDC Ad Rules 2026: What Doctors and Dentists Can Post

Picture a dentist in Kolkata on a Monday morning. Her clinic's Instagram has 40 smile-makeover reels, a pinned post that says "painless root canal", and a Diwali offer scheduled for Friday. Her agency posts three times a week. Nobody has told her that, since 6 October 2026, almost every one of those posts could earn her a show-cause notice.

This guide is for her, and for every doctor, dentist, dermatologist, cosmetic surgeon, clinic and hospital in India who promotes their practice online. It explains the NMC advertising guidelines (6 October 2026) and the NDC advisory for dentists (14 October 2026) in plain English, shows before-and-after rewrites and links every point to its source. It was put together by DotCreative, a Kolkata digital marketing agency that builds websites and manages social media for clinics.

Last updated: 18 October 2026. Every rule below is taken from the official NMC notice or the NDC advisory as reported, with clause numbers so you can check it yourself.

1. The 60-Second Summary

In one line: teaching patients is allowed, promoting yourself to win them is not. Instagram, YouTube and your website are still open for health education. What has to go is superlatives, guarantees, patient testimonials, before-and-after photos, inducement offers and fake engagement.

2. Who and What These Rules Cover

The NMC guidelines apply to every Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) and to hospitals and medical institutions. That covers physicians, surgeons, dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons, gynaecologists, IVF specialists, diagnostic centres and hospitals. Hospitals are also governed by the Clinical Establishments Act or the relevant State Act.

Dentists sit under a separate regulator. The National Dental Commission replaced the Dental Council of India with effect from 19 March 2026, and its Ethics and Dental Registration Board issued its own advisory on 14 October 2026. In practice, both sets of rules point the same way, so a post that is safe under one is usually safe under the other.

Using an agency does not move the responsibility. Under Clause 4.4, content published through an agency, influencer, platform or other intermediary remains the responsibility of the doctor or institution that authorised, commissioned, sponsored, adopted or knowingly permitted it.

What counts as advertising

Clause 3.2 defines advertising as any communication that directly or indirectly promotes a doctor's or institution's services, reputation, qualifications, achievements or facilities. It names sponsored, targeted and search-engine communication, and Clause 3.5 lists the media covered, including print, TV, radio, social media, websites and blogs, messaging platforms, podcasts, influencer marketing, public interviews, online healthcare platforms and AI-generated promotion.

Two explanations to Clause 3.2 mark what falls outside. Explanation I excludes information shared with the public in the normal course without promotional content or commercial intent. Explanation II allows a factual statement that a facility, technology or piece of equipment is available, as long as it carries no superiority, guarantee or comparative claim.

3. NMC Guidelines: The 12 Restrictions Explained

Clause 8.1, in Chapter III of the NMC guidelines, lists twelve restrictions for RMPs. Here they are in plain language, with the kind of post each one catches.

Patient privacy and consent

Patient photos, videos, records, clinical images, treatment details and testimonials cannot be used for advertising unless the law permits it and proper consent and safeguards are in place. Clause 6.2 adds that a patient's consent does not make a prohibited practice acceptable. Where consent is legally required, it must be specific, informed, voluntary, documented and verifiable, and identifying marks must be cropped or blurred. Clause 7.4 separately bars sharing any patient detail, such as a name, face or anomaly, through which the patient can be publicly identified. Patient data handling must also comply with the IT Act 2000, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and its 2025 Rules (Clause 7.6).

Artificial intelligence

Under Clause 7.2, AI-generated promotional campaigns for commercial interest are prohibited, and any AI-generated promotional content that does comply with the rules must carry a source mark stating that its origin is AI. AI must never be used to create or alter a patient's image, voice, testimonial or clinical outcome, or to fabricate an endorsement from a real patient or doctor.

Your photograph

Using your own photograph for self-advertisement, solicitation or promotional publicity is not permitted. A photo on your letterhead or clinic signboard is treated as unethical conduct under IMC Regulations 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 (Clause 9.2).

Disclosure on every post

Explanations III and IV to Clause 3.2 require doctors posting on electronic media to disclose their name, qualifications, registration status and State or National Medical Register number, and clinics to disclose the same details for the doctors in their posts. A footer line on every post covers it: Dr. [Name], [Qualifications], Reg. No. [Number], [State] Medical Council.

4. What Doctors Are Still Allowed to Say

The guidelines are not a social media ban. They draw a line between informing the public and acquiring patients. These are explicitly allowed (Clauses 5.1, 8.2 and 9.1):

• Health education: awareness programmes, public health campaigns, academic discussions and educational content, as long as they do not promote your practice, solicit patients or get monetised through promotional marketing.
• Talks and interviews: lectures or talks on TV, radio and electronic media in your own name and designation, without promoting your employer.
• Research: case studies you have published in reputed medical journals.
• Formal announcements: starting practice, changing the type of practice, changing address, temporary absence, resuming practice, succeeding to another practice and publicly declaring your charges.
• Patient pamphlets: health education brochures handed to patients at your clinic, with no cure guarantees or superiority claims.
• Greetings: wishes on national days and days related to the medical profession, without any promotional message.
• Institutional facts: hospitals can share their name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, equipment, emergency services, accreditation status and charges.
• Equipment and facilities: a factual note that a machine, technology or service is available, with no claim that it is better than others or guarantees results (Explanation II to Clause 3.2).
• Doctor directory: a hospital website listing its doctors' names, recognised qualifications, specialities, registration details and availability is treated as patient information, not advertising.

Government health campaigns and schemes that serve the larger public interest are exempt from the guidelines.

Based on these permissions, content that fits includes the following (education under Clause 5.1, announcements and greetings under Clause 8.2): an explainer on when a symptom needs a check-up, myths and facts about a common treatment, aftercare instructions, a screening or vaccination reminder, a notice about a change of address or a temporary closure, and a World Health Day greeting with no offer attached.

5. NDC Advisory: What Dentists Need to Know

Eight days after the NMC notice, the dental regulator followed with its own warning. The NDC advisory of 14 October 2026 applies to every registered dental practitioner in India and reminds them of Clauses 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 of the Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations 2014, which deal with advertising, patient solicitation, confidentiality, publicity and signage.

The Board named the practices it is concerned about:

• Recording and broadcasting consultations and dental procedures
• Publishing patient testimonials
• Publishing before-and-after photographs
• Misleading treatment claims
• Circulating inaccurate health information
• Self-aggrandising publicity
• Disproportionately large signboards

Established violations can lead to a show-cause notice, suspension or removal from the State and National Register of Dentists. For a typical dental clinic, the smile-makeover reel, the "painless RCT" banner and the chair-side extraction video are all now risks.

6. Before and After: 7 Posts Rewritten the Compliant Way

The easiest way to understand the rules is to see them applied. The examples below are illustrative posts we wrote to show how each rule applies, each followed by a compliant version that still gives patients something useful.

In every rewrite, the post answers a question a patient actually has instead of selling the doctor.

7. Platform-by-Platform Compliance Checklist

8. Penalties, Appeals and Open Questions

For doctors, action is taken by the State Medical Council under a graded ladder:

A penalty can only follow a show-cause notice and a chance to explain, and the council must pass a reasoned order. A doctor can appeal to the EMRB within 60 days under Section 30(3) of the NMC Act 2019, with a second appeal available under Section 30(4). Hospitals face action under the Clinical Establishments Act or the relevant State Act, and a doctor who personally approved a hospital's prohibited content can be examined separately. For dentists, the NDC advisory warns of show-cause notices, suspension or removal from the dental registers.

What the guidelines do not settle yet

Some questions are not answered in the text. The guidelines apply from publication (Clause 1.2) and set no transition period for older posts. They do not expressly say whether asking a patient for a genuine Google review counts as requesting a review under Explanation V. They do not explain how the ban on AI promotional campaigns sits alongside the source-mark rule for compliant AI content in Clause 7.2. They contain no rule on monitoring comments and no deadline for taking down old content. Clause 12 allows the NMC to issue clarifications and standard operating procedures, so check the NMC website for updates.

9. Check Your Post Free: The Doctor Ad Shield Tool

Knowing the rules does not tell you whether your Friday post breaks them. For that, DotCreative built the Doctor Ad Shield, a free compliance checker for doctors, dentists, dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons, clinics and hospitals. It currently runs in beta.

When we ran a risky dental caption through it on 18 October 2026 ("No.1 Dental Clinic", "before and after", "100% painless guarantee", "50% discount this week only"), it scored 95 out of 100 for risk and flagged all four problems.

Check My Post Free

The tool is an awareness aid, not a legal opinion. Final interpretation rests with your State Medical or Dental Council.

10. Why Your Website Needs a Compliance Audit

A single post is easy to check. A whole website is harder, because the same rules apply to every page, including places that are easy to miss: a meta title reading "Best Dentist in Kolkata" that shows on every Google search, a testimonials page, a before-and-after gallery, "success rate" counters, unlabelled AI images and doctor profiles without registration numbers.

DotCreative is offering clinics a free NMC and NDC compliance audit covering your website, Google Business Profile and Instagram. Our team, which handles website design and development, SEO and social media management for healthcare clients, will list exactly what to remove, rewrite and add. Our content writing team can then rewrite pages and posts so they stay compliant and visible on Google.

11. 23 Questions Doctors Are Asking

12. Official Sources

Every point in this guide can be traced to one of these documents. We recommend reading the original text before making decisions about your practice.

• NMC Public Notice No. R-13014/01/2024-Ethics (6 October 2026): full text of the guidelines (PDF)
• National Medical Commission official website (Public Notices section)
• NDC advisory on unethical social media advertising (14 October 2026): Medical Dialogues report
• Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014 (PDF)
• Medical Dialogues: detailed summary of the NMC guidelines
• The South First: what the NMC guidelines mean for doctors on Instagram

At the time of writing we could not find the NDC advisory's full text on an official NDC web page, so the NDC details above come from the Medical Dialogues report of 15 October 2026. The NMC PDF linked above is a copy hosted by Medical Dialogues; check Information Desk, then Circulars/Public Notices, on the NMC website for the original.

The rules are strict, but they leave plenty of room for clinics that teach rather than sell and that clearly say who is speaking. If you want help reworking your website and social pages to fit them, talk to DotCreative.