What a guest gets
A doctor comes to the room or the house. The guest writes to us, we find a doctor who covers the address, and the doctor contacts the guest directly and states the fee before setting out.
The guest pays the doctor, not us, and receives an invoice under the doctor's own practice number to send to a travel insurer or medical aid. Every doctor is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and consults in English or Afrikaans; our WhatsApp assistant takes the request in whatever language the guest writes in. A doctor is on call at night as well.
We are not an emergency service. For an emergency, the guest or anyone with them should call 10177 for an ambulance or 112 from a mobile.
Text for your house manual
Copy the version that suits your manual, change the wording as you like, and link it however you prefer. We do not ask for a particular link text.
Version 1
Feeling unwell during your stay? SA Home Doctor can arrange for a doctor to come to the house. Send them a WhatsApp message through southafricahomedoctor.com/wa. The doctor will tell you the fee before coming and can give you an invoice for your insurer. In an emergency, call 10177 or 112 from a mobile.
Version 2
Need a doctor? Write to SA Home Doctor at southafricahomedoctor.com/wa. They arrange visits by HPCSA-registered doctors, at night too. You pay the doctor directly, once the fee has been confirmed. This is not for emergencies: dial 112 on a mobile phone or 10177 for an ambulance.
Version 3
Doctor visits (non-urgent): SA Home Doctor, southafricahomedoctor.com/wa on WhatsApp. Please contact them yourself; we do not pass on our guests' details. Emergencies: 10177 or 112.
What we ask of hosts
Please never send us a guest's health details, whether by message, email or phone. The guest contacts us directly, or someone travelling with them helps the guest start the conversation, so that the guest can give consent first.
This is not red tape. Under POPIA, we need the person's own explicit consent before processing information about their health, and we ask for it in the first exchange. A message from a host describing a guest's symptoms skips that step, which is why we ask hosts never to send one.
What helps is simpler: put the link where guests can find it, and if a guest asks, help the doctor with directions or a gate code once the visit is arranged.
Why we pay no commission
We do not pay hosts, concierges or booking agents for guests they send us, and nobody can pay us to be recommended. That is a deliberate choice, tied to the rules doctors work under.
The HPCSA's advertising guidance states that a practitioner "shall not canvas or tout or allow canvassing or touting to be done for patients" on their behalf, and it treats touting done by a third party in the same way (HPCSA, advertising guidelines for practitioners). A fee per guest would make the host that third party, and would expose the doctor who visits to a complaint.
So the arrangement stays plain. You mention us because it helps your guests, and no money changes hands between us.
A QR card for each property
A small printed card in the welcome folder or on the fridge does the job well. Generate a QR code that points to southafricahomedoctor.com/wa: scanning it opens a WhatsApp conversation with us on the guest's own phone, so the guest writes first.
Print the emergency numbers, 10177 and 112, on the same card. Leave guests' names and booking references off it, so that the card stays the same from one stay to the next.
Questions about working with us, or a card file with our name on it: email [email protected].
🚨 Emergencies
SA Home Doctor is not an emergency service. In a medical emergency, call 10177 for an ambulance or 112 from a mobile phone. Do not wait for a reply from us.