Resource · Compliance Reference

Clinic Advertising Compliance
Hub.

KKM, MDC, PHFSA, Google healthcare policy and MOH — everything a Malaysian or Singapore clinic needs to advertise without getting an ad pulled or an account flagged, in one place.

Last updated: July 2026

Quick answer: Malaysian aesthetic clinics answer to KKM guidelines (including the LCP credential for ~12 specified procedures); dental practices answer to MDC; premises need PHFSA registration; Singapore clinics answer to MOH and SMC instead. Layer Google's healthcare policy and platform restrictions (Meta, TikTok) on top of whichever baseline applies. This page indexes our full compliance content by topic.

Most clinic advertising problems trace back to one of a small number of gaps — a claim that shouldn't have run, a credential that wasn't actually held, a Google policy nobody checked, or a Malaysian campaign copied unchanged into Singapore. This hub indexes everything we've published on the compliance side of clinic marketing, organised by regulator and by platform, so you can find the specific answer instead of reading five scattered guides. For licensed private hospitals and healthcare groups, see the healthcare marketing page.

By regulator

  • KKM & MDC (Malaysia, general): The KKM & MDC advertising guidelines every Malaysian clinic owner gets wrong — the core reference for what's restricted and why, covering aesthetic and dental together. Self-check against both rule sets directly: KKM Ad Checker (aesthetic) and MDC Ad Checker (dental).
  • MDC (Malaysia, dental specifically): MDC Advertising Rules, Explained for Dental Practice Owners — the dental-specific detail with practical pass/fail examples.
  • MMC Code of Professional Conduct (Malaysia, registered doctors): the Malaysian Medical Council publishes its Code of Professional Conduct on mmc.gov.my, and it is one of the documents a doctor’s practice promotion should be checked against. Read the mmc code of professional conduct itself rather than a summary. For hospitals and medical groups, our healthcare marketing page covers how department and doctor-profile content is written with it in mind, and the private hospital medical-tourism SEO case study shows the published result.
  • MOH & SMC (Singapore): Marketing an Aesthetic Clinic in Singapore: The MOH-Compliant Playbook — why a Malaysian campaign doesn't transfer, and what the compliant version looks like with SGD benchmarks.
  • LCP credential (aesthetic practitioners): What the LCP Credential Means for Clinic Marketing — the practitioner-qualification layer that sits underneath every aesthetic ad claim.
  • PDPA & DNC (Malaysia, lead follow-up): PDPA and Clinic Lead Data in Malaysia and DNC-safe follow-up for Singapore leads — consent and contact rules for what happens after the ad, not just the ad copy itself.
  • HSA (Singapore, health products & therapeutic goods): where a clinic advertises a therapeutic product or device rather than a service, Singapore's Health Sciences Authority — not MOH — is the relevant regulator. We haven't published a dedicated HSA explainer yet; check the primary source directly for product-advertising rules until we do.
  • AHPRA & TGA (Australia): cosmetic clinic advertising in Australia sits under AHPRA's cosmetic procedure advertising guidelines (National Law s133, strengthened 2 September 2025 to cover influencer testimonials, appearance-prediction tools and under-18 targeting) plus the TGA's ban on advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. Run new ad copy through the AHPRA & TGA Ad Checker before it goes live — see the Australian Invisalign pricing guide for how these rules apply in practice.

By platform

Annual reference & tools

How to use this hub

Start with the regulator that governs your practice, then check the platform-specific guide for wherever you're actually spending budget — the two layers stack, and most real-world problems happen where they overlap (a claim that's borderline under KKM and also flagged by Google's healthcare policy, for instance). Run new ad copy through the KKM Ad Checker before it goes live, and revisit the annual rules refresh at least once a year, since guidelines and platform policy both drift. If the content is written by or about a registered doctor, add the MMC Code of Professional Conduct to the regulator layer.

Does the doctor in your ad need the credential for the procedure shown?

Yes — and this is the one that catches clinics out, because it applies to endorsement as well as delivery. If a named doctor appears in an ad performing a procedure, or endorsing it, they need to hold the credential that procedure requires. The LCP framework covers a specified set of aesthetic procedures, so a practitioner credentialed for one is not automatically covered for another. The same applies to the wording around them: copy that implies a procedure is doctor-performed when it is delegated is a claim about credentials, whether or not it names anyone.

Is a compliance check at launch enough?

No. Guidelines get updated and platform enforcement shifts, so an ad that cleared review a year ago can drift out of bounds without anyone touching it. That matters most for evergreen creative and landing pages, which is exactly the material nobody revisits. Put the recurring ads and the pages behind them on a review schedule rather than treating clearance as a one-off at launch.

Want your creative
reviewed before it runs?

Every account we run goes through compliance review before launch — see the clinic marketing programmes or book a call.

Aesthetic clinic marketing Book a strategy call
FAQ

Frequently Asked
Questions.

Aesthetic medical practice is governed by KKM (Ministry of Health) guidelines including the Licentiate in Aesthetic Medical Practice (LCP) framework; dental practices answer to the Malaysian Dental Council (MDC); clinic premises must be registered under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (PHFSA); and medicine advertising specifically falls under the Medicines (Advertisement & Sale) Act 1956.
No. Singapore clinics answer to the Healthcare Services Act and Healthcare Services (Advertisement) Regulations administered by MOH, alongside Singapore Medical Council (SMC) guidelines — stricter in several respects than KKM, particularly around before/after imagery and promotional pricing. A Malaysian campaign copied unchanged into Singapore is a common source of compliance problems. Check your copy with the free MOH Ad Compliance Checker.
Most suspensions are self-inflicted — triggered by Google's healthcare advertiser certification requirements or restricted-remarketing policy, not by regulatory enforcement. Confirming certification status and remarketing-list configuration before launch prevents most of these.
Yes — the free KKM Ad Checker screens ad copy against common Malaysian healthcare advertising restrictions before you publish.
Yes — once a lead form or WhatsApp click-to-chat captures a person's data, Malaysia's PDPA governs how it's stored and used, and Singapore's DNC Registry restricts follow-up contact to SG numbers regardless of where the clinic is based. This sits alongside, not instead of, the advertising-content rules (KKM/MDC/MOH) covered elsewhere on this page. Check your own follow-up message with the free PDPA & DNC Registry Checker.
No — they cover different things. MOH and SMC govern healthcare services advertising (what a clinic can claim about its treatments); HSA (the Health Sciences Authority) governs therapeutic products and devices specifically. A clinic advertising a named product or device should check HSA's own rules directly, not assume MOH compliance covers it.

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