New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- India is cracking down on mushrooming salon-like hair transplant clinics after botched procedures, serious medical complications and fatalities raised concerns over patient safety. In a first, the health ministry has framed guardrails for such centres, to ensure qualified medical staff, surgical-grade facilities and emergency preparedness, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.

The Union health ministry's standard operating procedures (SoPs) aim to check clinics operating without accreditation, lacking emergency preparedness, trained doctors and technicians and standard infection control measures, the officials said.

The guidelines have been finalized at the expert committee stage und...