Kochi, Oct. 16 -- The National Medical Commission's (NMC) guidelines stipulating that hair transplantation must be performed by appropriately trained and licensed doctors assume significance in the wake of a serious infection reported following a hair transplant procedure in Kochi, Kerala.

The guidelines issued by the commission's Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) make it clear that hair transplantation is a surgical procedure requiring specialised medical training, adequate infrastructure and arrangements to manage complications.

The guidelines state that any procedure involving an incision in the skin to harvest tissue or prepare the scalp or body to receive tissue constitutes surgery, irrespective of whether conventional tec...