GST on Doctor and Clinic Services in India: What’s Exempt and What’s Not

Is GST applicable on doctor consultation fees?

No. Health care services by a clinical establishment, an authorised medical practitioner or para-medics are exempt from GST, so a doctor’s consultation fee carries no tax. The exemption sits at entry 74 of Notification 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate), which also exempts patient transport by ambulance.

Three definitions in the same notification decide who qualifies:

• Health care services means any service by way of diagnosis or treatment or care for illness, injury, deformity, abnormality or pregnancy in any recognised system of medicines in India, including transport of the patient to and from a clinical establishment.
• Authorised medical practitioner means a practitioner registered with a council of a recognised system of medicines, which covers allopathic, dental, AYUSH and similar councils.
• Clinical establishment covers a hospital, nursing home, clinic or sanatorium, and also a place set up, on its own or as part of another establishment, to carry out diagnostic or investigative services.

CBIC’s Circular 32/06/2018-GST adds that senior doctors, consultants and technicians hired by hospitals, whether employees or not, also provide exempt health care. The whole amount a hospital charges a patient, including the part it keeps after paying the doctor, is towards exempt health care.

Which medical services are taxable? A quick table

Most clinical care is exempt, but a few services and all goods follow their own rules. Use this table as a starting point, not a final answer.

Is cosmetic or aesthetic treatment taxed?

Yes, when it is purely cosmetic. The definition of health care in Notification 12/2017 excludes "hair transplant or cosmetic or plastic surgery, except when undertaken to restore or to reconstruct anatomy or functions of body affected due to congenital defects, developmental abnormalities, injury or trauma".

• Scar revision after an accident or burn, or cleft lip repair, fits the exception and stays exempt.
• A procedure done only to change appearance falls outside health care and is taxable.
• Non-surgical aesthetic services are harder to classify, so get your CA’s view on each one before you bill it.
• Keep case notes that record why a procedure was done; they support the tax treatment you choose.

A dermatology or dental clinic that offers both treatment and cosmetic work should bill them as separate line items, so the exempt and taxable parts are clear on every invoice.

What is the GST on hospital room rent?

A room other than an ICU, CCU, ICCU or NICU, charged above five thousand rupees per day to a patient, is taxed at 5% without input tax credit. All other rooms remain part of exempt health care.

Two notifications made the change from 18 July 2022. Notification 04/2022-Central Tax (Rate) took such rooms out of the entry 74 exemption. Notification 03/2022-Central Tax (Rate) added entry 31A, with central tax of 2.5% on the condition that input tax credit is not taken. With the matching state tax, that makes 5%.

The September 2025 rate changes did not list hospital rooms among the services whose rates changed, so the 2022 position appears to continue. Confirm with your CA before you set room tariffs.

Is there GST on medicines a clinic supplies?

It depends on whether the medicine is part of treatment or a separate sale. Medicines and consumables given to an admitted patient during treatment are generally treated as part of the exempt health care. Medicines sold over the counter are goods, and the pharmacy charges the GST rate for each product.

The CGST Act calls items that are naturally bundled and supplied together a composite supply, taxed like its principal supply. Circular 32/06/2018-GST applies this to food for in-patients. An advance ruling published by the GST Council took the same view for medicines and consumables issued to in-patients. It found that out-patients are free to buy their medicines elsewhere. Advance rulings bind only the applicant, so confirm with your CA.

Goods rates changed from 22 September 2025. The 56th GST Council press release cut GST on "all other drugs and medicines from 12% to 5%" and made a listed set of lifesaving drugs nil-rated. The rate for any product still depends on its classification, so check each one with your supplier or CA.

Does a clinic with a pharmacy need GST registration?

A doctor or clinic supplying only exempt health care does not have to register. Once taxable sales such as a pharmacy start, the turnover limit applies, and exempt fees count towards it.

• Only exempt services: Section 23 of the CGST Act says a person supplying only goods or services that are wholly exempt is not liable to register.
• Turnover limit: under Section 22, a supplier making taxable supplies must register once aggregate turnover exceeds twenty lakh rupees in a financial year in most states, including Haryana. Special category states have a lower limit.
• Exempt fees count: aggregate turnover includes exempt supplies and is counted on an all-India basis for the same PAN. Consultation fees can push a clinic over the limit even when pharmacy sales are small.
• Separate business, separate questions: whether a pharmacy run by a relative or a separate firm is counted with the clinic depends on ownership and PAN. Ask your CA.

If the clinic registers, keep the pharmacy on its own invoice series with GST per item, and keep exempt clinic bills apart. Input tax credit on costs used for exempt health care is generally not available, and splitting credit on shared costs is technical, so let your CA set it up.

GST is only one registration. Our guide to clinic registration in Haryana covers the Clinical Establishments Act, biomedical waste and other approvals.

Is GST charged on health insurance now?

Individual health insurance policies are exempt from GST from 22 September 2025. The 56th GST Council approved exemption on "all individual health insurance policies (including family floater policies and policies for senior citizens) and reinsurance thereof". Before that, these premiums were taxed at 18%.

The exemption covers individual policies. For group or employer policies, check the premium invoice and ask your insurer or CA. A clinic should not change its own billing because of this: patients paying through insurance still receive exempt health care.

How DVM Techno Can Help

Patients search clinic names, doctors and timings before they visit. A clear site that lists services, explains billing in plain words and keeps exempt care apart from pharmacy or cosmetic work answers many front-desk calls. We build clinic and hospital websites in Gurgaon and across Haryana with doctor profiles, treatment pages, timings and WhatsApp appointment requests. Appointment forms follow our DPDP checklist for clinic websites. Your CA still decides the tax treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions