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Can a doctor advertise in India?
No, not in the way a shop advertises. A doctor in India may teach the public freely, and that is not restricted. What is restricted is using his own name, face and qualifications to attract patients to himself, and claiming that anything cures a condition.
Three separate sets of rules apply at the same time, and they come from three different places. Most people only know about one of them.
This is the first question a doctor is now told to ask before he lets anyone make videos for him, and it is a fair one. The honest answer is longer than yes or no, because the line is not drawn where most people assume.
Read this as a starting point, not as clearance. We make video for doctors, we are not lawyers, and nothing below is legal advice. The rules here have moved more than once in the last three years, and how a state medical council applies a rule written in 2002 to a thirty second video in 2026 is not a settled question. Before anything goes out, a doctor should take his own advice on his own situation.
The three sets of rules, and where each one comes from
They do not overlap neatly, and a video can satisfy one and break another.
- The medical council's ethics code. Governs the doctor as a professional. Deals with soliciting patients and self-promotion.
- The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. Governs what may be claimed about a treatment. Criminal law, with prison in it.
- Consumer law and the advertising code. Governs misleading claims and undisclosed paid endorsements. This is the newest of the three and the one almost nobody mentions.
1. The ethics code, and what it actually says
The operative rules are the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.
A point worth getting right, because a lot of what is written online is out of date. A replacement set of rules was published in August 2023. Within weeks it was put in abeyance, and the 2002 code was restored in its place. As at the date on this page, the 2023 version is still not in force. So an article written in late 2023 telling a doctor what the new rules require is describing something that never started.
The core of it, clause 6.1
The full text puts it plainly. Soliciting patients, directly or indirectly, by a doctor, a group of doctors or an institution, is unethical. A doctor may not use his name, or himself, as the subject of advertising in any form, alone or with others, in a way that draws attention to him, his title, his skill, his qualifications, his achievements, his specialities, his appointments or his honours.
Read that slowly, because the wording is doing something specific. It does not restrict a doctor from speaking in public. It restricts him from using himself as the advertisement. The subject matters. A video about a condition is not the same thing as a video about how good he is at treating it.
The seven things he is expressly allowed to announce
The code then names the occasions on which a formal announcement in the press is permitted:
- On starting practice
- On change of the type of practice
- On changing address
- On temporary absence from duty
- On resumption of another practice
- On succeeding to another practice
- Public declaration of charges
That last one surprises people. A doctor may state his fees publicly. That is written into the code as permitted.
The photograph rule, and it is the one that catches video
Clause 6.1.2 treats printing a self-photograph as self-advertisement. Diagrams and anatomical illustrations are fine.
That clause was written for a printed prescription pad and a newspaper column in 2002. Whether it is meant to reach a doctor's own face in his own educational video is exactly the kind of question that has not been settled, and different state councils have taken different views. What is clear is the thing underneath it: the rule is aimed at a doctor promoting himself, not at a doctor explaining a condition.
And clauses 7.11 to 7.13
These stop a doctor contributing to the lay press in a way that has the effect of advertising himself or soliciting patients. They also set out what an institutional announcement may contain: name, qualifications, registration number, and the facilities offered. Nothing more.
The code does not say do not teach the public. It says do not make yourself the product.
2. The 1954 Act, and this one is criminal law
The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 is the one most people have never heard of, and it is the one with prison in it.
It governs advertisements, not treatment. A doctor may lawfully treat a condition that he may not lawfully advertise treating. That distinction is the whole Act in one line.
What it bans
Advertising a drug or remedy as diagnosing, curing, mitigating, treating or preventing any condition in its Schedule. The Schedule names 54 conditions, and it includes cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, leprosy, appendicitis and sexually transmitted disease. On top of the Schedule it separately bans advertising anything claiming to induce miscarriage or prevent conception, to improve or maintain sexual pleasure, or to correct menstrual disorders.
The penalty is up to six months in prison on a first conviction, with or without a fine, and up to a year on a second. If the offender is a company, every member can be deemed guilty.
The honest picture
The Act is old, it is widely described as outdated, and it is not enforced consistently. Fourteen of the conditions in that Schedule are now curable, and conditions that did not exist in 1954 are not in it at all. None of that helps a doctor who ends up on the wrong side of it, and the one area where it is enforced most is exactly the one that carries the most aggressive advertising.
The practical effect for anyone making a doctor's videos is narrow and simple. The word cure, applied to anything in that Schedule, is the line. So is anything that means cure without saying it: permanent solution, complete relief, guaranteed result, root cause eliminated, no side effects at all.
3. Consumer law, the newest layer and the one nobody mentions
Since the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, a misleading advertisement is a consumer offence, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority can act on it. Its 2022 guidelines on misleading advertisements and endorsements require that any claim be truthful and capable of being substantiated, and that any material connection between an endorser and a product be disclosed. In 2023 an additional set was issued dealing specifically with health professionals and health influencers.
The Advertising Standards Council of India code runs alongside it and carries its own healthcare chapter.
Where this bites a doctor is the one place he would not expect: appearing in somebody else's content. A paid appearance for a supplement brand, a product placed on the desk, a clinic tie-up, all of it needs disclosing, and an endorsement that cannot be substantiated carries penalties reported up to ten lakh rupees for a first offence and considerably more for repeats.
So where does teaching stop and advertising start?
There is no line drawn in any of the three sets of rules, so anyone who gives you a clean one is making it up. What there is, is a pattern that runs through all three, and it holds up well as a working test.
Ask what the video is for. If a stranger watched it and learned something true about his own body that he could act on without ever contacting this doctor, it is teaching. If the only thing he could take away is that this doctor is very good and he should come in, it is advertising.
Two videos on the same subject:
- Teaching. What causes this. How to tell it apart from the thing it is mistaken for. What usually makes it worse. When it is worth seeing somebody.
- Advertising. Our success rate. Patients travel from three states to see me. Before and after. Book now, limited slots this month.
Most clinic content that gets into trouble was not trying to break a rule. It drifted, because every piece ended with the same ask and eventually the ask was the only thing left.
The verbs do most of the work
Safer: may help with, is traditionally used for, many people find, the usual approach is, this is what the evidence suggests.
Not safe: cures, eliminates, permanently fixes, guaranteed, works for everyone, no side effects.
That is not word games. The first list describes a treatment honestly, including the part where it does not always work. The second makes a promise about a stranger's body that nobody can keep.
What to check before anything is published
This is the list we run on medical content before it goes out. It is short on purpose.
- Does anything in it claim to cure, prevent or permanently fix a condition? Especially one in the 1954 Schedule.
- Is the subject the condition, or is the subject the doctor?
- Is there a superlative? Best, top, leading, number one. All of those are claims somebody has to be able to prove.
- If a product, brand or clinic appears, is the relationship disclosed?
- Is there a patient in it, and did they agree in writing, knowing where it would be published?
- Does a before and after image imply a result that is typical when it is not?
- Is there a visible note saying this is educational and not a substitute for seeing a practitioner?
Seven questions, about two minutes per video. That is what a compliance check actually is, and most of what goes wrong would have been caught by question one.
Who checks this on a doctor's videos, in practice
Usually nobody, and that is the real finding. A doctor hires a video editor. An editor is not trained in any of this and is not asked to be. The doctor is busy, approves the cut on his phone between patients, and the caption written by somebody else is the part that carries the claim.
This is worth saying plainly because it is the answer to the question at the top of this page. The rules are not the hard part. Somebody actually reading every line before it is published is the hard part, and it is the step that gets skipped because it belongs to nobody.
Questions people ask about this
Can a doctor in India post on Instagram or YouTube at all?
Yes. Nothing in the rules prevents a doctor from educating the public, and public health information is expressly contemplated by the ethics code. What the code restricts is soliciting patients and using his own name, qualifications or achievements as advertising. Content about a condition sits on very different ground from content about how good the doctor is.
Can a doctor show his own face in his videos?
Clause 6.1.2 of the 2002 regulations treats printing a self-photograph as self-advertisement, and that clause was written for print in 2002. Whether it reaches a doctor's face in his own educational video has not been settled, and state councils have taken different views. The safer reading is that the rule is aimed at self-promotion rather than at a doctor explaining a condition, but a doctor should take his own advice on it.
Can a doctor state his consultation fees publicly?
Yes. Public declaration of charges is one of the occasions expressly permitted by the ethics code, alongside announcements about starting practice, changing the type of practice, changing address, temporary absence, resuming practice and succeeding to a practice.
What is the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act and does it apply to social media?
It is a 1954 law that bans advertising a drug or remedy as curing, treating or preventing any of 54 conditions named in its Schedule, plus anything claiming to improve sexual pleasure, prevent conception, induce miscarriage or correct menstrual disorders. It defines an advertisement broadly, including announcements made orally or by light or sound, which is wide enough to cover video. It governs advertisements, not treatment.
What is the penalty for breaking it?
Up to six months imprisonment on a first conviction, with or without a fine, and up to a year on a subsequent one. Where the offender is a company, all members can be deemed guilty.
Did the rules for doctors change in 2023?
A new set of professional conduct regulations was published in August 2023 and was put in abeyance within weeks. The 2002 Code of Medical Ethics was restored and remains the operative code. Anything written in late 2023 describing the new requirements is describing rules that never came into force.
Does a doctor need to disclose a paid brand appearance?
Yes. Under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 and the 2022 guidelines on misleading advertisements and endorsements, any material connection between an endorser and what they are endorsing must be disclosed, and any claim must be capable of being substantiated. Additional guidance for health professionals and health influencers followed in 2023. Penalties for a misleading endorsement have been reported up to ten lakh rupees for a first offence.
Akash Gupta
Founder of PhantasyLabs, part of Peepoye Network. He built a YouTube channel to 12.8 lakh subscribers before building the system that now runs it, and PhantasyLabs produces and publishes video for doctors, coaches, experts and brands. More about us.
This article is about publishing, not about treatment, and it is not legal advice. It sets out what the published rules say as at 14 September 2026. Rules in this area have changed more than once in recent years and their application to online video is not settled. Anyone publishing medical content should take advice on their own situation, and anyone with a health concern should speak to a qualified practitioner.