Ethics

Every page we write has to survive a regulator’s read. And a patient’s.

Indian medical advertising rules are strict about what a hospital may claim and silent about what it may explain. That gap is where specialty healthcare content marketing lives. This page sets out what we refuse to write, whoever asks, and why the refusals are the strategy. The regulations behind them are unpacked on the compliance page.

What we won’t write See the rulebook Written for hospital administrators, marketing heads and the doctors who sign off on content
Same page, two versionsHow a brief gets rewritten
What a generic agency writes
What we publish instead
Guaranteed pregnancy in three IVF cyclesOutcome guarantee
Live birth rates by age band, with the registry the number comes from and the year
Best knee replacement surgeon in LucknowSuperlative, solicitation
What a knee replacement involves, who it suits, the recovery timeline and the cost range at this hospital
Permanent cure for diabetes with our programmeScheduled condition, cure claim
How the hospital’s diabetes clinic manages the condition, what a first visit covers, and when to see a specialist
Before and after photos, pulled from the clinic’s WhatsAppNo written consent
Illustrations, or photographs with the patient’s signed consent on file and identifiers removed
The left column is what gets a notice. The right column ranks, gets cited, and is what the patient wanted to read anyway. The reasoning is in the complete hospital marketing guide.
Why this matters to the strategy

The rules are not a constraint on the plan. They are the plan.

Three things follow from reading the regulations closely, and all three point the same way: towards educational content and away from advertising.

Doctors may inform. They may not solicit.

The NMC code and the Dental Council of India code restrict advertising by registered practitioners, but neither restricts explaining a condition, a procedure, its risks or its cost. An accurate treatment page is information, and information is allowed.

The patient has already decided to research.

People choosing a hospital for a joint replacement, an IVF cycle or a cardiac procedure read for days before they call. Somebody will answer their questions. The rules only decide whether it’s the hospital or a forum.

Compliant content outlasts the campaign.

An ad that stretches a claim runs for a month and may draw a notice. A consultant-reviewed page that explains a procedure plainly keeps ranking, keeps being cited by AI search, and never needs taking down.

What we won’t write

Twelve things we refuse, whoever asks.

Some of these are illegal. Some are legal and still wrong. All of them lose the patient’s trust, which is the only asset the content is building.

Guarantees and cure claims“Guaranteed”, “100% success”, “permanent cure”, “risk-free”. Also the softer versions: “our patients always”, “you will”.NMC · DMR Act · CCPA
Success rates without a sourceAny percentage that can’t be traced to a registry, a published study or the hospital’s own audited numbers, with the denominator and the year.CCPA · ASCI
Before-and-after images without consentNo signed, publication-specific consent on file means no photo. Consent obtained for treatment records does not cover marketing.DPDP · DCI · ASCI
Superlatives about doctors or hospitals“Best surgeon in”, “No. 1 hospital”, “most experienced”. Awards are named only when the awarding body and year are stated.NMC · DCI · ASCI
Testimonials that imply an outcomeA patient describing their experience of care is fine with consent. A patient’s story used to promise the same result to the reader is not.ASCI · ASCI
Discounts and offers on clinical procedures“Free consultation this month”, “20% off implants”, package deals with a countdown. Price transparency yes; bait pricing no.NMC · CCPA
Anything on sex selection, commercial surrogacy or organ availabilityIncluding indirect wording, images that imply it, and FAQs that answer the question a reader “might have”.PCPNDT · ART Act · THOTA
Fear as a sales device“Ignoring this symptom could kill you” copy. We write what a symptom may indicate and when to seek care, in the register a good doctor uses.ASCI · editorial policy
Comparisons with named competitorsNo “unlike hospital X”. A page can explain what to look for in a provider; it cannot run down another one.ASCI · Consumer Protection Act
Reviews we didn’t earnNo incentivised reviews, no drafted reviews for patients to post, no review gating. We build a flow that asks every patient the same way.CCPA · Google policy
Clinical claims no clinician has readAI helps us research and structure. Nothing clinical publishes until the consultant who does the procedure has read it. No exceptions for deadlines.Editorial policy
Content that identifies a patientCase numbers, dates, unusual conditions or locations that would let a reader work out who the patient is, even with the name removed.DPDP · IMC code on confidentiality
Keep reading

The regulations behind each refusal: the Omdra compliance page

The trust side of the same coin: E-E-A-T in hospital and clinic marketing

What working with us looks like: the four-step engagement, start to handover

Want a content partner that will tell you no?

The refusals on this page are the reason the pages we do write get trusted, by patients, by regulators and by the doctors who sign them. If that trade sounds right, talk to us.

Message on WhatsApp · +91 73492 71469 Email lalit@omdra.co.in Working hours 10:00 to 19:00 IST, Monday to Saturday