MOH advertising guidelines for Singapore clinics

What are the MOH advertising rules for Singapore clinics?

You can advertise your clinic, but only inside one set of rules: the Healthcare Services (Advertisement) Regulations 2021. Everything you say has to be accurate and something you can back up. You can't use before-and-after photos, words like "best" or "leading", testimonials (with one narrow exception), or urgency tactics like countdowns. Break the rules and the penalty runs to $20,000 and up to a year in jail. And it's not just the clinic on the hook—your marketing agency is too.

First, a quick word on names, because they trip people up. What most clinic owners call "the MOH advertising guidelines" is really the Healthcare Services (Advertisement) Regulations 2021 (S 1033/2021)—the detailed rules made under the Healthcare Services Act 2020, usually shortened to the HCSA. They started on 3 January 2022 and were updated in mid-2023. They took over from the old PHMC guidelines from 2019—the ones a lot of the industry still quotes. Those are gone: the old Act was repealed on 18 December 2023. If your checklist is based on the PHMC rules, it's out of date.

Four Regimes • All Live at Once

1. When the rules apply

The rules apply to any advertising with a Singapore link—in any form, on any medium (Reg. 3). And "Singapore link" is drawn very wide. Your ad has one if either of these is true:

• Someone physically in Singapore can see it; or
• You aimed it at people you know (or should know) are in Singapore.

One useful exception: the rules mostly don't apply to a business that only publishes your ad without shaping what it says (Reg. 3(4))—the newspaper or platform selling space. But an agency that writes copy isn't in that category.

2. The seven content rules

Regulation 5(1) sets seven rules that every ad has to meet—all seven, every time. Miss one and you're in breach.

3. Where you're allowed to advertise

Regulation 6 is a fixed list of allowed places—and it's easy to miss. For any ad not shown inside your own clinic, these are your only options:

Not on the list: TV, Radio, Cinema, Billboards, bus and MRT panels, lift-lobby screens away from your clinic. If a medium isn't named, it isn't allowed—the list is closed.

4. Awards, accreditations and "Best Clinic 2026"

Regulation 13 starts by saying no: you can't advertise any award, prize or honour your clinic has won. There is one exception—was it given because a body verified you met technical standards?

5. Promotions, discounts and gifts

You can't advertise any deal where a patient gets a gift or perk based on what treatment they buy if the point is to push them to book (Reg. 15(1)). Points, tiers, referral rewards, bundles, and package upsells are out.

8. Who's liable—and why your contract can't shift it

This is the biggest misunderstanding in the market. An agency that writes your copy carries its own legal exposure alongside the clinic. "My agency said it was fine" will not save the clinic in court.

Common Questions