Doctor signboard rules and fee display in clinics What the board outside may say, and the rate list the law wants inside.

Short answer: a doctor's signboard in India may carry only the doctor's name, qualifications from a university or statutory body, titles, speciality, and registration number with the name of the State Medical Council, and it must not be unusually large or carry the doctor's photograph. Fee display is a separate duty. In states where the Clinical Establishments Act, 2010 applies, every registered clinic must display the rates it charges for each service at a conspicuous place, in the local language and English. States with their own law, such as Karnataka, set their own version, and Karnataka's is the most detailed we read.

Our post on the NMC advertising guidelines covers social media and promotion, and our clinic name guide covers the name itself. This post stays on the two physical boards.

Which rules govern the signboard and the rate board?

What can a doctor's signboard say?

Regulation 7.13 of the 2002 regulations is the core rule. It says it is improper for a physician "to use an unusually large sign board and write on it anything other than his name, qualifications obtained from a University or a statutory body, titles and name of his speciality, registration number including the name of the State Medical Council under which registered." It adds that "the same should be the contents of his prescription papers", so the board and the prescription pad should match.

Three other regulations narrow what goes in those fields:

• Qualifications: regulation 1.4.2 allows only "recognized medical degrees or such certificates/diplomas and memberships/honours which confer professional knowledge or recognizes any exemplary qualification/achievements" after the name. An unrecognised online fellowship does not belong on the board.
• Speciality: regulation 7.20 says a physician "shall not claim to be specialist unless he has a special qualification in that branch." Writing "Diabetologist" or "Skin specialist" needs a qualification in that branch, not only experience.
• Registration number: regulation 1.4.1 requires every physician to display the registration number given by the State Medical Council or the national council "in his clinic and in all his prescriptions, certificates, money receipts". Regulation 7.3 makes not displaying it misconduct.

Timings, the clinic's name, address and phone number are not in the 7.13 list. Most clinics show them, and the 2026 guidelines treat a clinic's name, contact details, facilities and fees as factual information an establishment may publish (section 9.1). The cautious reading is that the doctor's own block on the board follows 7.13 exactly, and the clinic's practical details sit beside it as plain information, without any claim attached.

Is there a size limit for a doctor's signboard?

No regulation we read gives a size in feet or centimetres. Regulation 7.13 uses the words "unusually large", and the NMC's 2026 notice does not add a dimension. Section 8.3(ii) of that notice does say "the form, medium or frequency of communication shall not convert otherwise factual information into solicitation", which is the test a council would apply to a board that dominates a building front or a highway hoarding. Your municipal body may also have its own rules on hoardings and shop boards; we did not review those. If you are unsure, compare with the boards of other doctors in your area and ask your state council.

Photos, logos and pictures

Regulation 6.1.2 says printing a self-photograph "or any such material of publicity in the letter head or on sign board of the consulting room or any such clinical establishment shall be regarded as acts of self advertisement and unethical conduct". It allows "sketches, diagrams, picture of human system". Section 9.2 of the 2026 guidelines repeats the point and says the use of a self-photograph on a letterhead or signboard "shall be governed by Regulations 6.1.1 and 6.1.2" and "regarded as unethical conduct." A heart outline or a tooth icon is fine; the doctor's portrait is not.

Where the board may hang

The last sentence of regulation 7.13 is the one people miss: "It is improper to affix a sign-board on a chemist's shop or in places where he does not reside or work." A board on the medical store downstairs, or directional boards across town that point to your clinic, fall foul of it. A board at the clinic entrance and one at the building gate where you practise are the ordinary case.

A sample signboard that stays inside the rules

Sample data only. The doctor, clinic and registration number below are invented to show the layout.

What to leave off: "Best child specialist in [city]", "20 years' experience, 1 lakh patients treated", "Gold medallist" unless it is a recognised honour, the doctor's photo, a QR code asking for Google reviews, and any discount line. Section 8.1(ix) of the 2026 guidelines bars "best", "No. 1", "leading", "most trusted" and "top" unless objectively verifiable, and section 8.1(iii) bars success-rate and patient-count claims for doctors.

Must a clinic display its fees?

Where the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 applies, yes. Section 12(1) of the Act lists the conditions for registration and continuation, and clause (iv) adds "such other conditions as may be prescribed." Rule 9 of the Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules, 2012 (G.S.R. 387(E), 23 May 2012) prescribes them. Rule 9(i) reads:

every clinical Establishment shall display the rates charged for each type of service provided and facilities available, for the benefit of the patients at a conspicuous place in the local as well as in english language

Because rule 9 is a condition "for registration and continuation", a clinic that does not display rates is out of step with the terms of its own registration certificate. The Act defines clinical establishment to include a clinic run by a single doctor, so a one-room OPD is covered in a state that applies the central Act. Our list of states that follow the Clinical Establishments Act shows where that is.

Rule 9(ii) goes further on paper: clinics "shall charge the rates for each type of procedures and services within the range of rates determined and issued by the Central Government". At the 6th meeting of the National Council for Clinical Establishments on 8 Dec 2014, the minutes record that doctors' fees in the private sector "may not be fixed by Government at this stage", that the private sector "may be allowed to decide their own rates and display the same accordingly", and that a "Single Doctor Clinic/Polyclinic incharge should likewise display its own rates." The portal's downloads page, which we read on 26 Oct 2026, lists a rate display template and a list of procedures but no range of rates for OPD consultation. Display is the duty a small clinic can act on today.

The official template and the standard list of procedures

The Clinical Establishments portal run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare publishes a "Template of Display of Rate" and a "List of Medical Procedures" on its downloads page. The template starts with the establishment's name, address, email and registration number, then an OPD line with consultation fees for general, single-specialty, multi-specialty and super-specialty OPD, followed by sections for in-patient wards, emergency care, investigations and therapeutic charges. Most of it is for hospitals. A small OPD needs the header and the OPD and procedure lines.

The List of Medical Procedures is a 58-page standard list that runs to 3,035 numbered entries. Its first section is "OPD procedures", which includes dressing of wounds, removal of stitches, catheterisation and incision and drainage. Using these names on your board makes it easier for a patient or an inspector to compare, and for your own bill to match the board.

Karnataka: the most detailed fee display rule we read

Karnataka regulates private clinics under its own Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007, not the central Act. Its definition of a private medical establishment names a "Clinic, Polyclinic" and a "Consultation Centre". Section 10, substituted by Karnataka Act 01 of 2018 with effect from 4 Apr 2019, requires every private medical establishment to notify a schedule of charges "for consultation fee, investigations, medical treatments, procedures, hospital charges and other services" in four ways:

1. on a public website provided by the government, in the prescribed manner;
2. on its own website, if it has one;
3. by displaying the "consultation fee, rates of major and largely used investigations, procedures, treatments and other services, and hospital charges on the notice board of the establishment at a conspicuous place at the reception";
4. as booklets or brochures "readily available to patients and public at the establishment at all times".

Two provisos change how a Karnataka clinic should run its counter. If the four versions disagree, "the least amount shall be considered to be effective", so an old rate left on the website binds you. And section 10(2) says the clinic may collect no more than the notified charges, "after providing an itemized bill." Section 11(v) adds a duty to display the Patient's Charter and the Private Medical Establishment's Charter "in such place easily visible to the public", and section 13(3) requires the charges for copies of clinical records to be displayed "at a prominent place."

Other states with their own clinical establishment laws have their own wording. Our clinic registration guide shows which law applies where; read your state's Act and rules before you assume the central rule 9(i) applies to you.

What the Charter of Patients' Rights adds

The Charter of Patients' Rights and Responsibilities, approved by the National Council for Clinical Establishments and updated on 23 Aug 2021, repeats the rate rule as a patient right: "To information on the Rates charged for each type of service provided and facilities available. Clinical Establishment shall display the same at a conspicuous place in the local as well as in English language." It also gives a right to "a copy of the case papers, patient records, investigation reports and detailed bill (itemized)."

Right (xix) asks that a grievance redressal officer's "name and contact details will be displayed at a conspicuous place in local language and in English", along with the contact details of the district registering authority. The charter's note says rights (i) to (xiii) were sent to all states and UTs "for adoption and implementation" by a Ministry letter dated 2 Jun 2019, and rights (xiv) to (xx) were approved for inclusion in the minimum standards in 2021. Whether your state has adopted them is a question for your state health department. In a single-doctor clinic the doctor is usually the grievance officer, and putting a name and phone number on the rate board costs nothing.

How should the fees be written?

The doctors' rules allow fee disclosure and set a tone for it. Regulation 6.1.1 of the 2002 regulations lists "Public declaration of charges" among the announcements a doctor may make, and sections 8.2(ii)(g) and 9.3 of the 2026 guidelines repeat it. Section 8.1(x) then says "Any lawful disclosure of charges, packages or fees shall be factual, transparent and not misleading" and bars "discounts, limited-period offers, contests, coupons, gifts, cashbacks, referral benefits, free procedures or similar inducements" used in a way likely to encourage unnecessary consultation or amounting to solicitation.

Regulation 1.8 of the 2002 regulations adds the timing rule: "A physician should announce his fees before rendering service and not after the operation or treatment is under way." A board at reception does that for routine OPD work. For a procedure, tell the patient the charge before you start.

• Write the actual rupee figure, not "starting from". If a fee varies, give the range and what changes it.
• Say what a consultation covers: one visit, or a review within a set number of days.
• Use the same names as your bill and receipt, so a patient can match the two. Our clinic bill format guide covers the receipt.
• Put the date the rates took effect, so an old board is easy to spot.
• Use the local language and English, as rule 9(i) and the charter ask.
• Leave out offers, "free first consultation" banners and festival discounts. Section 8.1(x) is aimed at those.

A sample fee board for a small OPD

Sample data only. The rupee amounts are placeholders to show the layout, not a suggested fee.

Clinics that do not charge GST on consultation do not need a tax line. If you sell any goods at the counter, read our post on GST on consultation fees and ask your CA how to show it.

What else should be on the wall?

• The registration certificate. Section 18 of the Clinical Establishments Act says it "shall be kept affixed in a conspicuous place in the clinical establishment in such manner so as to be visible to every one visiting such establishment."
• The doctor's registration number (regulation 1.4.1), which the signboard already carries.
• If you run an ultrasound machine, the PC-PNDT notice and registration certificate; see our guide to PC-PNDT registration for clinics.
• In Karnataka, the Patient's Charter and the Private Medical Establishment's Charter (KPME section 11(v)) and the charge for record copies (section 13(3)).
• Anything your state's rules, your bio-medical waste authorisation or other licences ask you to display. Our clinic opening guide lists the usual licences.