Hire doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and clinical staff across India without a local entity. TankhaPay's EOR manages professional licence verification, dual compliance under Indian labour and healthcare law, and INR payroll so your teams are on the ground, compliant, and working in 3 to 7 days.
India is one of the world's largest healthcare workforces, with hospital chains, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organisations, telemedicine providers, and health-tech companies all competing for the same clinical and non-clinical talent. Hiring healthcare staff here is not a simple payroll exercise. It carries a dual compliance burden: one being with regard to general labour laws, which includes, PF, ESI, minimum wage regulations, Shops & Establishments Acts and another being that of the healthcare sector — the Clinical Establishments (Registration & Regulation) Act, 2010 and the NMC Act, 2019. Handle both properly or face dire consequences.
That is where TankhaPay's Employer of Record (EOR) service comes in. We become the legal employer for your Indian healthcare workforce that runs INR payroll, manages PF and ESI, verify professional licences before a single offer letter goes out, and keeping employment practices aligned with every applicable law. Clinical staff typically go from offer to payroll in 3 to 7 days. Non-clinical staff — administrators, medical coders, RCM teams are usually on payroll within 2 to 3 days.
TankhaPay gives healthcare businesses the agility to recruit and the compliance rigour to recruit right in every Indian state.
Hiring a doctor without verifying their NMC registration is not a procedural gap — it is also a liability according to the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, which makes it mandatory for all clinical establishments to have their practitioners properly registered under the respective professional councils. Similar rules apply to nurses registered under their respective state nursing councils and pharmacists registered under the Pharmacy Act, 1948. For most common EOR service providers, the entire onboarding process revolves around handling paperwork alone. If you skip verification, the consequences are on you, especially considering that it is a YMYL field.
Licence verification has been made an essential part of healthcare onboarding at TankhaPay in a mandatory four-step process.
Step 1: Obtain the registration number of the NMC, the State Nursing Council certificate or the Pharmacy Council registration certificate from the candidate.
Step 2: Check the validity of the licence by directly communicating with the concerned council.
Step 3: Highlight the mismatch between the licence information and the applicant before signing the employment agreement.
Step 4: Make a note of the verified licence information in the compliance dossier of the employee. This is the reason why healthcare HR departments talk about TankhaPay along with the best EOR providers in India when specialist compliance depth matters more than a global country list.
Healthcare employers in India face a dual compliance burden that most payroll providers are not built to manage. On one side sit the general labour obligations, i.e. PF, ESI, TDS, Professional Tax. On the other side are obligations in the healthcare sector which differ according to licence type, facility type, and clinical setting. The difference between healthcare employment compliance and non-compliance lies in the concurrent operation of both without a break in either.

Clinical staff, such as, doctors, registered nurses, paramedics, and allied health professionals carry professional licences and personal liability that make their employment compliance different from any other workforce category. Before a clinical employee starts, their registration must be current, their role must be correctly described in the contract, and their duty hour obligations must be structured in line with applicable state rules and the employing institution's standards.

Hospitals run around the clock, and healthcare payroll has to keep pace. Issues such as split shifts, 24-hour schedules, on-call schedules, and night duty cycles have unique payment implications that differ from regular office payroll. Overtime and compensations as provided by the law under the Shops and Establishments Acts are statutory requirements and not optional additions.

Healthcare staff handle patient records as a routine part of their work. There are obligations on TankhaPay in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, apart from the employment data obligations incumbent upon all employers. Due to the sensitive nature of the data processed and the third-party employment model adopted, data protection is an essential part of the contract.

Clinical and laboratory environments carry occupational safety obligations that sit alongside standard employer duties. The Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016 set out handling, segregation, and disposal requirements for clinical staff. TankhaPay handles employer-side employment obligations for clinical staff though premises-level facility duties under these regulations remain with the healthcare facility operator.

Different stakeholders in healthcare need different things from an EOR, and TankhaPay covers all of them without the compliance load landing on anyone internally.
Why speed matters in healthcare hiring.
Healthcare hiring is deadline-driven in a way most industries are not. A hospital cannot function without healthcare staff in place. A pharma company trying to earn incentives due to the PLI scheme is subject to a government deadline that they cannot manage. The launch period of a telemedicine company will run out if there isn't sufficient clinical staff ready for work. Doctors and nurses are professionals who do not sit idle, and hence once an offer becomes available, they join the first one available to them. Formation of a legal entity takes 3 to 6 months in India. TankhaPay onboards clinical staff within 3 to 7 days after acceptance of the offer, licence verification, contract signing, and payroll activation. Non-clinical healthcare staff are typically live within 2 to 3 days.
Why healthcare compliance cannot be managed generically.
The dual compliance burden for Indian healthcare includes the implementation of two parallel compliance regimes at once. From the labour law perspective, this involves PF 12%, ESI 3.25%, TDS Section 192, Professional Tax, the Minimum Wages Act 1948, and the Gratuity Act 1972, all having their respective filing timelines. On the other hand, the regulations for the healthcare sector include the Clinical Establishments (Registration & Regulation) Act 2010, NMC Act 2019, Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016, and the OSH Code 2020. The licence currency of clinical personnel is a constant requirement rather than a one-time activity at the time of onboarding. The compliance experts from TankhaPay cover all these aspects simultaneously, keeping track of deadlines and other requirements in every state you have healthcare staff working in. No compliance penalty across 1,000+ client companies since 2000.
Why India specialisation beats global EOR platforms for healthcare.
The reach of the global EOR platforms is about 150 to 180 countries, but India comes off as only one line on the list. The depth of compliance in terms of verification from NMC, onboarding according to NABH standards, and compliance as per the Clinical Establishments Act are not always found. The local handling is usually run through an aggregator partner with no direct relationship to the Indian healthcare regulatory bodies that actually matter. TankhaPay has operated exclusively in India for 26 years under AKAL Information Systems Ltd, a CMMI-appraised company certified to ISO 9001, 27001, 20000, and 14001. Our ISO 27001 certification specifically covers the patient data security obligations healthcare employers carry. We serve healthcare companies across Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, and Pune across hospitals, pharma, CROs, diagnostics, and health-tech. That depth isn't available on a platform with 180 markets to cover.
Hire clinical staff with professional licence verification already complete, dual compliance managed from Day 1, and no entity setup required. From a single specialist to a full hospital team on payroll in 3 to 7 days.
Schedule a CallIn India, an Employer of Record (EOR) for healthcare businesses would be an officially registered entity based in India to employ your physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other clinical professionals on your behalf. In essence, TankhaPay acts as your Employer of Record, handling all aspects related to employment agreements, payment in rupees, PF and ESI, and licence verification, while you remain in full charge of all clinical activities. It enables hospitals, pharmaceutical firms, CROs, and health-tech firms to recruit from India without any hassle.
Yes. A foreign hospital group can hire Registered Medical Practitioners, specialists, and clinical support staff in India through TankhaPay without establishing an Indian subsidiary, branch, or legal entity. TankhaPay becomes the legal employer on record, which also neutralises the permanent establishment risk that comes from having employees in India without a compliant employing structure. Clinical staff are onboarded in 3 to 7 days once professional licence verification is complete.
Yes, it is indeed one of the crucial steps in EOR for healthcare. The registration number of the Registered Medical Practitioner, the State Nursing Council registration number of nurses and paramedics, and the registration number of the Pharmacy Council of Pharmacists will be verified prior to the issuance of an employment contract. This consists of four steps: obtaining the registration numbers, verifying them through the respective council, marking a mismatch when present, and documenting them in the employee compliance files.
In India, healthcare companies must comply with two layers at once. Layer 1 will include all the basic labour laws, including PF 12%, ESI 3.25%, TDS Section 192, Professional Tax, and Minimum Wages Act 1948. Layer 2 will comprise the specific rules for the healthcare industry, including the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, NMC Act 2019, and Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016. At TankhaPay, we cover both layers at the same time, that is the difference between healthcare EOR and standard payroll outsourcing.
Shops and Establishments Act compliant structure of TankhaPay includes shift allowances, night duty pay, and on-call allowance in the cost-to-company of each employee right from the first day of joining, as per the provisions of the respective Shops and Establishments Act. Overtime will be calculated at the respective statutory norm of 1.5 to 2 times the normal wage per hour, and this calculation will be done automatically through the payroll platform.
Yes, telemedicine providers may engage the services of Registered Medical Practitioners and allied professionals using the TankhaPay EOR model without setting up an India legal structure. The engagement of telemedicine employees is subject to the guidelines under Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020, according to which only those practitioners with current NMC registration may practise telemedicine. TankhaPay performs verification of the NMC registration as part of the employee onboarding process.
Absolutely yes. We provide our services in terms of employing Clinical Research Associates (CRAs), data managers, biostatisticians, regulatory affairs experts, and site coordinators to Clinical Research Organisations (CROs). Employment in clinical research is subject to New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules 2019 and the ICH-GCP standard. Our onboarding process includes the necessary documentation and qualification verification of applicants in line with CRO job profiles.
TankhaPay is responsible for the fulfilment of the responsibilities of the employers in the context of the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016 and the OSH Code 2020 by the clinicians involved in the waste-producing processes, which include the preparation of documentation, registration process, and formation of contract terms. The premises-based obligations like waste separation arrangements, disposals, etc., rest with the healthcare establishment operators.
TankhaPay is ISO 27001 certified, which means patient and employee data is handled within a certified information security management framework. As the employer on record, TankhaPay also carries specific obligations under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 for any personal data it processes relating to healthcare employees. All HR and payroll data is stored within India-resident data boundaries. See EOR pricing for healthcare at our pricing page for how data security is built into service delivery.
In contrast to regular EOR, healthcare EOR entails the responsibility of complying with two different sets of rules at once, general employment laws and regulations of the healthcare sector. Furthermore, healthcare EOR needs professional licensing of the clinical workforce, i.e. NMC, State Nursing Councils, and Pharmacy Council before the employment process begins, which is beyond the capabilities of regular EOR processes. Clinical employees need duty hours and night duty payments that cannot be covered by regular payroll systems.