Best Doctors and Clinics is an independent directory of doctors, clinics and hospitals in India. This page sets out the method behind every list on the site: who gets listed, in what order, from which sources, and who checks it. If something on a page does not match this method, please tell us and we will fix it.
Method version 1. Published by Faz, who runs Best Doctors and Clinics, on 2 November 2026. Last updated 2 November 2026. When we change the method, we change this date and say what changed at the bottom of the page.
What “best” means on this site
The word “best” is in our name. We know that is a strong word in healthcare, and the National Medical Commission’s Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication (6 October 2026) say that claims such as “best” or “top” must rest on a transparent method that anyone can check, with the method, the date and the organisation behind it disclosed (clause 8.1(ix)).
So here is what we mean, and what we do not:
- Every list is ordered by the published rule below. It is not a judgement of anyone’s clinical skill or patient outcomes.
- Any shortlist we publish states its criteria, the date it was compiled and who compiled it.
- We do not give out “best doctor” badges, certificates or awards, and we ask doctors and clinics not to describe a listing here as an award.
Who we list
Inclusion is free and editorial. Nobody can pay to be listed. We list:
- Doctors registered with the National Medical Commission or a state medical council, and dentists and AYUSH practitioners registered with their own councils.
- Clinics and hospitals that are open to patients and can be identified from a public record, such as the National Hospital Directory, a clinical establishment register or the ABDM Health Facility Registry.
A listing can appear before we have finished checking it. Until its registration is checked, it says so plainly, it is kept out of search engines and it sits below checked listings. How we verify explains each check.
A specialty and city page, such as cardiologists in Pune, only goes live once at least five doctors there have a checked registration. Below that, the page does not exist, so you never land on a thin or empty list.
How every list is ordered
One rule, applied the same way to every list:
- Registration checked first. Doctors whose registration we have checked against the official register come before those we have not yet checked. For clinics and hospitals, this means their registration details have been checked against a public record.
- Then fee confirmed. Within each group, doctors whose consultation fee we have confirmed with the clinic come next. For clinics and hospitals, it means at least one price or package we have confirmed.
- Then alphabetical. Everything else is in alphabetical order by name.
That is the whole rule. There are no hidden scores, no ratings and no weighting for popularity. Confirming a fee is free for every listing and anyone can ask us to do it through the listing form.
Independence and paid upgrades
The site earns money in one way: clinics and hospitals can pay a flat subscription for an upgraded profile with more factual detail, such as departments, hours and packages. The NMC guidelines require every platform that hosts doctors to ensure there is no paid ranking of doctors and that listing practices are transparent (clause 9.4). Our rules follow from that:
- An upgrade never changes inclusion, position or removal. The ordering rule above does not look at whether a profile is upgraded.
- Every upgraded profile carries the label “Upgraded profile”, in lists and on the profile itself.
- We do not sell anything to individual doctors.
- Patient enquiries are always free and go only to the clinic the patient chose. They are never part of a paid upgrade.
The full detail is on profile upgrades for clinics and our advertising disclosure.
Where our information comes from
- Official registers, one entry at a time: the NMC Indian Medical Register, state medical, dental and AYUSH council registers, and the ABDM registries.
- The National Hospital Directory published by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on data.gov.in, under the Government Open Data Licence India.
- Wikidata, an open public database, for basic starter details of some hospitals. These pages say the details are not yet checked by us and link to the record.
- Accreditation lists published by NABH.
- Clinics and hospitals themselves, when they claim or correct a listing. We check what they send before we publish it.
- For guides: regulators, government health bodies and peer-reviewed research, linked from the page.
We do not copy listings, ratings or reviews from other directories or from map services, and we do not scrape registers. Ratings or prices we cannot verify are never published.
Medical review
Faz, who runs this site, is not a doctor, and no doctor reviews our guides at present. Every guide says “Not reviewed by a doctor” under its title, so you can always tell. We keep medical statements to what regulators, official health bodies and published research say, link each source, and never give personal advice. If a registered doctor reviews a guide in future, their name, registration and the review date will appear on it.
How we write
- Plain language, with every figure linked to its source and dated.
- No claims of cures, guaranteed results or success rates, and no patient testimonials.
- No personal medical advice. Our guides help you prepare questions for a doctor, they do not replace one.
- We do not publish critiques of named doctors, clinics or other businesses.
Use of AI tools. We use AI tools to help research, draft and summarise guides and to tidy data. Faz checks each guide against its sources. We never use AI to write promotional copy for any clinic or doctor.
Corrections
If you spot a mistake, use the listing form for a listing, or the contact form for anything else. We aim to correct factual errors within 5 working days, and sooner when the error could mislead a patient. When we change a guide in a way that matters, we update the date on the page.
Conflicts of interest
People who write, check or review content here must tell us about any link to a doctor, clinic, hospital or healthcare company they are writing about, such as employment, ownership, family ties or payment. If there is a link, we say so on that listing or guide.
We do not accept gifts, free treatment or hospitality from listed providers in exchange for coverage.
Changes to this method
Version 1, 2 November 2026. First published.