Privacy Policy

 

Preamble

MEDICALLIB aims at being the number one bus stop for all your Healthcare needs. This can only be achieved by building a strong and lasting relationship with our users through security, confidentiality and trust with user’s personal data.

MEDICALLIB complies with all South African regulations and laws relating to the protection of personal data.

MEDICALLIB also complies with the rules of ethics laid down by the representative bodies of the medical and paramedical professions present on its service.

MEDICALLIB applies an extremely strict policy to guarantee the protection of the personal health data of its users:

– Each MEDICALLIB user remains master of his/her data. MEDICALLIB does not have it freely.

– They are treated in a transparent, confidential and secure way.

– MEDICALLIB is engaged in a continuous process of data protection for its users.

Purpose of This Policy

This policy describes how MEDICALLIB and the healthcare professionals, company or institutions subscribing to its services process the personal data of visitors and users (hereinafter the “User (s)”) while browsing the website medicallib.co.za (hereinafter the “Site”) and their use of the services of MEDICALLIB or its mobile application (hereinafter the “Application”).

Certain Personal Data of the User must be considered as personal health data, and are hereinafter referred to as “Personal Health Data (PHI)”.

This Policy may be modified, supplemented or updated to comply with any legal, regulatory, jurisprudential and technical developments. However, the User’s Personal Data will always be processed in accordance with the policy in force at the time of collection, unless a mandatory legal requirement would otherwise be available and would apply retroactively.

This policy is an integral part of the Terms of Use of the Site.

Identity and Coordinates of Treatment Officers, Institutions and users.

Healthcare professionals or institutions determine the means and the purposes of the treatment, the purpose of a product, service or instrument and the purpose and end result(s) of the education they offer. Individuals have total control over the any information submitted and do so at their own risk.  MEDICALLIB (the subcontractor) only process personal data on their behalf. It acts under the authority and instructions of these entities herein referred to as the controllers. 

The processing of personal data by MEDICALLIB is:

  1. For Personal Health Data collected (i) by the User when making an appointment directly via the Site or the Application or (ii) by the Health Professional in his MEDICALLIB appointment calendar: each Health Professional individually depending with who you make an appointment. Each health professional is considered to be in charge of treatment. MEDICALLIB is but a subcontractor acting on the particular instruction (s) of each Health Professional or institution.
  2. For the Personal Data collected in the context of the creation of the User’s personal account and its navigation on the Site or its use of the Application.
  3. For Personal and Health Data collected when asking questions or when answering questions, using the live chat, using the email functionality, using the lead form and when using “The Box” feature.
  4. For Personal  and Health Data collected from the user when telling their stories on the blog or when businesses engage with each other through our site.

Whether a controller or subcontractor, MEDICALLIB takes measures to ensure the protection and confidentiality of the personal information it holds or that it processes. For more information about the services offered by MEDICALLIB you can refer to the General Conditions of Use (GCU) of the Site.

COLLECTION & ORIGIN OF DATA

All user data is collected directly from them.

MEDICALLIB undertakes to collect the consent of its Users and / or to allow them to oppose the use of their data for certain purposes, as soon as it is necessary.

In all cases, Users are informed of the purposes for which their data are collected via the various online data collection forms and via our Cookie Management .

END RESULT OF COLLECTED DATA

1. Need for collection

When making an online appointment with a healthcare professionals or institutions and when using certain features of the site, the User communicates certain Personal Data. If the User does not wish to communicate the information requested, the User may not be able to access certain parts of the Site or the Application, and MEDICALLIB may not be able to respond to his/her request.

2. Purposes

The collection of your Personal Data has for legal basis:

  • MEDICALLIB’s legitimate interest in ensuring the highest quality of its services, in providing its Users with the best possible follow-up of their appointments and care journeys, and in improving the functioning of its Site and Application
  • MEDICALLIB’s  legitimate interest in conducting optional satisfaction surveys of its services with a view to improving them
  • The consent of its Users when it is required by the regulations in force, in particular as regards commercial prospecting and cookies.

Data of MEDICALLIB’s Users are mainly processed for:

  • Allowing their browsing on the Site and allowing their use of the Application
  • Putting them in touch with a health professional, an institution or an individual
  • Enabling them to manage their appointments with Health Professionals or institutions (get notifications, modify them, cancel them) and their care path
  • Enabling them to manage the appointments of their loved ones and their care path
  • Enabling them to be optimally cared for by the Health Professional
  • Allowing them to safely ask or answer questions and to post their stories.

In the alternative, User data is also collected to:

  • Prevent and fight against computer fraud (spamming, hacking …)
  • Improve the navigation on the Site and the use of the Application
  • Conduct optional satisfaction surveys on MEDICALLIB services (these surveys are conducted anonymously or anonymized at short notice)
  • Perform statistics on the use of the tool, internal reporting for MEDICALLIB research & development teams and reporting to Healthcare Professionals or Institutions (without any Health Data being used).

You will find more details on the management of cookies allowing us to achieve this purpose in our cookie management.

The mandatory or optional nature of the personal data requested and the possible consequences of non-response towards MEDICALLIB Users are specified during their collection (s).

TYPES OF DATA PROCESSED

MEDICALLIB is treated as a Subcontractor, to allow access to its services such as the making of appointments, the management of the appointments, asking of questions and providing answers, posting of health care stories and the searching of products and services.  All or some of the following data are collected:

  • Name (and birth name), first name, date of birth
  • Phone number, email address, postal address (possibly digital code)
  • Password
  • Reason for the appointment with the practitioner, specialty of the practitioner, frequency of appointments
  • Doctor treating and addressing
  • Appointment history
  • Data belonging to the medical file that the practitioner wishes to share with you
  • The same data concerning relatives for whom the user could make an appointment
  • Interests, hobbies and opinions

MEDICALLIB is likely to treat, as a Treatment Manager, to make appointments, appointments and care management, all or part of the following data:

  • to enable navigation on the Site or the use of the Application: login and use data of the Site or the Application
  • to prevent and fight against computer fraud (spamming, hacking …): computer hardware used for navigation, IP address, password (hash)
  • to improve the navigation on the Site or the use of the Application: connection and usage data
  • to conduct optional satisfaction surveys on MEDICALLIB: email address
  • to carry out communication campaigns (sms, mail): phone number, email address

NON-COMMUNICATION OF PERSONAL DATA

The Personal Data of the User will not be transmitted to commercial or advertising actors.

The Personal Data of the User may be processed by MEDICALLIB subsidiaries and subcontractors (service providers), in full respect of the principle stated above, exclusively in order to achieve the purposes of this policy.

Within the limits of their respective attributions and for the purposes mentioned above, the main people likely to have access to the data of Users (except Health Data) of MEDICALLIB are mainly the agents of our customer service.

MEDICALLIB also uses the services provided by several specialized companies (mailing, live chat, SMS,audience analysis), the list of which can be communicated to the persons concerned on request addressed to admin@medicallib.co.za . No Personal Health Data is communicated to them.

DURATION OF DATA CONSERVATION

We keep your data only the time necessary for the purposes pursued, in accordance with the legal requirements.

RIGHTS OF USERS

Whenever MEDICALLIB processes Personal Data, MEDICALLIB takes all reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the Personal Data with regard to the purposes for which MEDICALLIB processes them.

Accordingly  MEDICALLIB Users have the following rights:

  • Right of access and rectification, update and completeness of user data
  • The right to block or erase Personal Data, when they are inaccurate, incomplete, equivocal, out of date, or whose collection, use, disclosure or storage is prohibited.
  • Right to withdraw consent at any time.
  • Right to limit the processing of User data.
  • Right of objection to the processing of User data
  • Right to the portability of the data that the Users will have provided, when this data is the subject of automated processing based on their consent or on a contract.
  • Right to define the fate of the data of the Users after their death and to choose to whom MEDICALLIB will have to communicate (or not) his data to a third which they will have previously designated.

As soon as MEDICALLIB becomes aware of the death of a User and in the absence of instructions from him, MEDICALLIB undertakes to destroy its data, unless their retention proves necessary for probative purposes or to fulfill a legal obligation

If the User wishes to know how MEDICALLIB uses his Personal Data, ask to rectify or opposes their treatment, the User may contact MEDICALLIB in writing at the following address: 38 Melle Street, Braamfontein, 2000 or  support@medicallib.co.za. In this case, the User must indicate the Personal Data that he would like MEDICALLIB to correct, update or delete, identifying himself precisely with a copy of an identity document (identity card or passport). ). Requests for deletion of Personal Data will be subject to the obligations that are imposed on MEDICALLIB by law, particularly with regard to the preservation or archiving of documents. Finally, MEDICALLIB Users can file a complaint with the supervisory authorities.

Telemedicine Practices and Booking

Telemedicine Practices

Telemedicine as defined refers to where information is exchanged electronically either on or off-line, formally, informally or as a need for a second opinion.

Every registered healthcare practitioner engaging in telemedicine practices takes responsibility for the quality of service delivered as well as confidentiality, security and safety of patients’ information.

According to the South African healthcare legislation, no healthcare professional is to engage in telemedicine practices without having physical contact with the patient involved at least once. All Telemedicine services involving diagnosis and prescriptions should involve a healthcare provider where there is an actual face-to-face consultation and physical examination of the patient in a clinical setting. The consulting practitioner will communicate the information to the servicing practitioner, who will then provide the necessary assistance. However Medicallib may be used to provide informed decisions to patients about their health.

Booking

Do not submit any Protected Health Information (PHI) or any information you feel is too personal or sensitive and which you think may be used against you.

Some patients are too busy and not able to wait either due to an urgent healthcare issue or due to the nature of their work. While healthcare professional can associate a “physician assistant” to the practice to quickly assist patients, he/she must still be involved in all patient diagnosis and treatment recommendation.

“COOKIES” AND TAGS INTERNET

” COOKIES “

A “cookie” is a small information file sent to the User’s browser and stored in the User’s terminal (e.g. computer, smartphone), (hereinafter ” Cookies “). This file includes information such as the User’s domain name, the User’s Internet Service Provider, the User’s operating system, and the date and time of access. The Cookies do not risk in any case damaging the terminal of the User.

MEDICALLIB may process the User’s information concerning his visit to the Site, such as the pages consulted, the searches carried out, excluding the Health Data. This information allows MEDICALLIB to improve the content of the Site, the navigation of the User.

Cookies facilitating the navigation and / or the provision of services offered by the Site, the User can configure his browser to enable him or her to decide whether or not he or she wishes to accept them so that Cookies are registered in the Website. The terminal or, on the contrary, that they be rejected, either systematically or according to their issuer. The User can also configure his browser so that the acceptance or rejection of Cookies is proposed to him or her from time to time, before a Cookie is likely to be registered in his terminal. MEDICALLIB informs the user that, in this case, it is possible that the functionality of its browser software is not all available.

If the User refuses the registration of Cookies in his terminal or his browser, or if the User deletes those who are registered there, the User is informed that his browsing and his experience on the Site may be limited. This could also be the case when MEDICALLIB or one of its service providers cannot recognize, for technical compatibility purposes, the type of browser used by the terminal, the language and display settings or the country from which the terminal seems connected to the Internet.

If applicable, MEDICALLIB declines any responsibility for the consequences related to the degraded functioning of the Site and the services possibly offered by MEDICALLIB, resulting (i) from the refusal of Cookies by the User (ii) the impossibility for MEDICALLIB to register or to consult the Cookies necessary for their operation because of the choice of the User. For the management of Cookies and the choices of the User, the configuration of each browser is different. It is described in the help menu of the browser, which will indicate how the user can change his wishes for cookies.

At any time, the User may make the choice to express and modify his wishes regarding Cookies. MEDICALLIB may also use the services of external service providers to assist in collecting and processing the information described in this section.

Finally, by clicking on the icons dedicated to Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin  social networks appearing on the MEDICALLIB Website or in its mobile application and if the User has accepted the deposit of cookies while continuing to browse the Website or The mobile application MEDICALLIB, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin  can also place cookies on your devices (computer, tablet, mobile phone).

These types of cookies are only deposited on your terminals if you consent to them, by continuing your navigation on the MEDICALLIB Website or mobile application. At any time, the User may nevertheless reconsider his consent for MEDICALLIB to deposit this type of cookie via our Cookies Management Policy .

To find out more about how these different cookies are handled and to authorize or oppose their deposit, you must go to our cookie management policy .

TAGS (“TAGS”) INTERNET

MEDICALLIB may occasionally use Internet tags (also called “tags”, or action tags, one-pixel GIFs, transparent GIFs, invisible GIFs, and one-to-one GIFs) and deploy them through a specialist partner. Web analytics likely to be located (and therefore to store the corresponding information, including the IP address of the User) in a foreign country.

These tags are placed both in online advertisements allowing users to access the Site, and on the various pages of it. This technology allows MEDICALLIB to evaluate visitors’ responses to the Site and the effectiveness of its actions (for example, the number of times a page is opened and the information accessed), as well as the use of this Site by the user. The external service provider may collect information about visitors to the Site and other websites through these tags, compile reports on the activity of the Site for MEDICALLIB, and provide other services related to the use of it and the Internet.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

The MEDICALLIB User has the possibility to click on the icons dedicated to the social networks Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin appearing on the Site or in the MEDICALLIB Application.

Social networks improve the usability of the Site and help promote it through sharing. The video sharing services enrich the MEDICALLIB Website with video content and increase its visibility.

When the User clicks on these buttons, MEDICALLIB will have access to the personal information that the User has indicated as public and accessible from his Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin  profiles. However, MEDICALLIB does not create or use any database independent of Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin from personal information that the User may publish there and MEDICALLIB will not process any data relating to his private life in this way.

If the User does not wish MEDICALLIB to have access to the personal information published on the public space of his profiles or his social accounts, the User will have to use the means put at his disposal by Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to limit access to his data.

SECURITY

MEDICALLIB implements all technical and organizational measures to ensure the security of the processing of personal data and the confidentiality of Personal Data.

As such, MEDICALLIB takes all the necessary precautions, in view of the nature of the data and the risks presented by the processing, in order to preserve the security of the data and, in particular, to prevent them from being deformed, damaged, or that unauthorized third parties have access to it (physical protection of premises, authentication processes with personal and secure access via confidential identifiers and passwords, logging of connections, encryption of certain data, etc.).

PERSONAL INFORMATION AND MINORS

In principle, the Site and the Application are intended for adults who are capable of contracting obligations in accordance with the legislation of the country in which the User is located.

The underage user under the age of 18 or incapable must obtain the prior consent of his legal guardian before entering his data on the Site and the Application. Except under the legal obligation of confidentiality or related to the medical secret, MEDICALLIB can directly inform this person in charge (i) of the specific categories of Personal Data collected from the minor (ii) of the possibility of opposing the collection, the use or the conservation of these.

The age of 18 may be lowered to 13 years depending on the local regulation of the user’s habitual residence.

Further Reading

CONTACT US – CONTACT INFORMATION

If the User has any questions or complaints concerning MEDICALLIB’s compliance with this Policy, or if the User wishes to inform MEDICALLIB of recommendations or comments aimed at improving the quality of this policy, the User may contact MEDICALLIB in writing to the following address: MEDICALLIB, 38 Melle Street, Braamfontein, 2000 or admin@medicallib.co.za.