Nagpur: Doctors and hospitals can no longer use social media to solicit testimonials of patients, flaunt 100% success claims or offer discounts and freebies to attract patients, under new ethical guidelines by National Medical Commission (NMC).
The Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) guidelines on Oct 6 were framed in response to a Supreme Court directive and Medical Council’s professional conduct regulations. Serious violations can draw 6 to 12 months’ suspension. Appeals can be filed before the EMRB within 60 days.
Doctors are barred from fear-based marketing, creating artificial demand, promoting unnecessary investigations and using superlatives like “best doctor, No.1 specialist, miracle treatment, painless treatment or guaranteed cure”. NMC has made doctors accountable for promotional communication they authorise or knowingly allow, including content put out through advertising agencies and influencers. Doctors posting content on electronic media must disclose their name, qualifications, registration status and State Medical Register/National Medical Register number. Hospitals must provide similar details. State medical councils can impose graded penalties, from warning and ethics training for the first violation to registration suspension and removal from the register for repeated violations. The guidelines bar doctors from soliciting, purchasing or publishing fake, paid or misleading ratings, reviews, endorsements and testimonials. Doctors cannot request patients to post testimonials or share such endorsements. Consent of patients will not make promotional material permissible. NMC has also drawn a line on AI-driven promotion. AI-generated campaigns aimed at commercial gains are prohibited, while permitted material must carry a source mark. Fabricating or manipulating a patient’s voice, image, testimonial, or creating synthetic endorsements supposedly from doctors or patients, is barred. Hospitals and doctors can use public hoardings and billboards only for authentic information on infrastructure and facilities. Photographs of patients used in communication must be cropped, blurred or blacked out. They cannot use their name, voice or photograph to endorse drugs, remedies, diagnostics or medical appliances. Financial inducements are prohibited, with ban on referral fees, commissions, lead-generation payments, rebates, gifts, contests, coupons, cashbacks and limited-period discounts.
“Some diagnostic centres flash Rs 999 CT/MRI scan in large fonts, but patients end up paying more than Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 once they get in. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Nagpur | Silver Rate in Nagpur | Bank Holidays in Nagpur | Public Holidays in Nagpur | Petrol Price in Nagpur | Diesel Price in Nagpur | CNG Price in Nagpur | LPG Price in Nagpur Stay updated with the latest Nagpur news.
The move will safeguard gullible patients,” he said. Another doctor said some hospitals keep their names after govt schemes which is misleading. The guidelines permit factual announcements on starting or changing practice, address changes, temporary absence or resumption of practice, succession of a practice and declaration of fees. Hospital websites may maintain factual doctor directories. Senior radiologist Dr Mustafa Bivji welcomed the decision saying misleading ads to entice patients should not be encouraged. Download the TOI App.