This notice is being reviewed. Items marked "to be completed" are not final yet and will be filled in once the review is done. Last updated 27 October 2026.
Who we are
SA Home Doctor is a booking and coordination platform. We arrange visits by independent doctors registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). This notice explains how we handle personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
Responsible party: [legal entity name, address] (to be completed).
Information Officer: [name, contact] (to be completed).
What we collect
Your name, phone number, the place where you want the doctor to come, the service you ask for and the age band of the patient, and your email address if you choose to give it on the request form. On WhatsApp, and by email if you write it, we also collect the reason for your request in your own words; the request form on the website does not ask for it.
If you email us, we receive your email address, the name shown with it and everything you write, which may include a phone number or the reason for your request (see If you email us).
We do not collect identity documents, and we never see card or bank details: you pay the doctor directly. Your medical record is kept by the doctor who visits you, not by us.
We also keep the invoice number and amount of each visit, for the franchise royalty and tax records.
Why we use it
To answer you, find a doctor near you, pass your request to that doctor, keep you informed, follow up after the visit, handle requests to see, correct or delete your data, and keep the records the law requires for the doctors' franchise royalties. The day after the visit, our WhatsApp assistant asks how you are, and if you feel worse, your doctor is told.
The reason for your request, given in your own words on WhatsApp or by email, helps us recognise an emergency and arrange the right kind of visit. It is not passed to the doctor: the doctor discusses it with you directly.
We may count, without any identifying detail, which topics people ask about, to improve the information on our website.
Before you consent
So that a real emergency is never missed, each WhatsApp message you send before replying YES is checked for signs of a life-threatening emergency. The check runs first on our own server. If nothing is found there, the message alone is sent to our AI assistant (Anthropic), with the names our software can recognise, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and house numbers masked (a name it cannot recognise as a name, for example a child's first name on its own, may not be masked), to answer a single question: is this a life-threatening emergency? Anthropic does not use it to train its models. If you do not reply YES, your messages are deleted within 24 hours.
Your consent
A first WhatsApp message reaches us through Meta, which operates WhatsApp, and arrives on our servers in the European Union. Until you agree, we keep only your number, the time and that first message, and we delete them within 24 hours if you do not agree. Apart from the emergency check described above, nothing is sent to our AI assistant or to a doctor before your consent. The request form on our website asks for your consent before you send it.
On WhatsApp and on the website request form, we ask for your explicit consent before we process any information about your health (POPIA section 27) and before your request is passed to the providers described below, outside South Africa (section 72). You can refuse; we will then not be able to arrange a visit through those channels.
Email has no consent step: an email you send us is processed as soon as it arrives, outside South Africa, as described in If you email us. If you prefer that your information is handled only after your consent, write to us on WhatsApp instead.
On WhatsApp, if you describe an emergency, we always tell you to call 10177 or 112, with or without your consent. By email, a reply waits for a person to approve or write it, so never use email in an emergency.
If you email us
An email to [email protected] passes through Cloudflare Email Routing, which forwards it to a mailbox we keep for this address at Google (Gmail). That mailbox forwards a copy of everything to the personal Gmail mailbox of the person who runs SA Home Doctor.
Our software, on our server in the European Union, reads the mailbox and posts a message to our coordination tool (Telegram), where only the person who runs SA Home Doctor sees it: your email, the phone numbers in it, a draft reply and the check run on that draft. The draft is written by our AI assistant (Anthropic), under commercial terms that do not allow training on your data. Before any text goes to the assistant, your name as the sender, names introduced by words such as "my name is" or "Regards", phone numbers, email addresses, @handles, house and room numbers and South African ID numbers are replaced by placeholders, and put back afterwards. A name written without such words, for example a child's name, is not replaced, and the rest of your email, including any health details and the place, is sent to the assistant. Each draft is checked by our software for prices, doses, medicine advice, diagnoses and the emergency numbers.
A reply leaves only when that person approves the draft in Telegram, or replies by hand from Gmail. An approved draft is sent from [email protected] through Brevo, an email delivery service, with a copy in our Gmail mailbox; a reply written by hand in Gmail is sent through Google. We use what you write to answer you, to arrange a doctor if you ask for one, and to handle a request to see, correct or delete your data.
The text of your email is deleted from our software and removed from the Telegram message 90 days after it arrives. The record of your email in our software (your address, the name shown with it, the phone numbers it contained and the dates) is deleted after 2 years. The copies in the two Gmail mailboxes stay until we delete them. If you ask us to delete your data, we delete your email from our software, the Telegram message and both Gmail mailboxes.
Where your data goes
Our servers are in the European Union. This website, its request form and the queue that holds a request sent through the website (for at most 7 days, until our dispatch system collects it) run on Cloudflare, a global network. We use an AI assistant (Anthropic) to help read and answer messages, under a commercial data processing agreement that does not allow training on your data. On WhatsApp, your name and number are replaced by placeholders before any message is sent to it (for email, see If you email us); the rest of the message, including the reason and the place, is processed by the assistant.
Doctors on duty in your area are offered the request without your name or number. The doctor who accepts receives your name, number and location through our doctors' messaging tool (Telegram), never the reason for your request. If a member of our coordination team takes over your conversation (you are told when this happens), they read your messages in our coordination tool, which also runs on Telegram. A request sent through the website form goes to the coordination team in that same tool, with your name, contact details and place, so that a doctor can be found.
WhatsApp is operated by Meta. Our servers in the European Union, Cloudflare, Meta, Anthropic, Telegram, Google and Brevo are all outside South Africa.
How long we keep it
- The reason for your request and its location are deleted 90 days after the request is closed.
- Your name and number are deleted 2 years after your last message or request.
- Invoice numbers and amounts are kept 5 years for tax purposes.
- An email: its text is deleted from our software and removed from the Telegram message after 90 days, and the record of your email after 2 years; the copies in our two Gmail mailboxes stay until we delete them, and are deleted if you ask us to delete your data.
- The service requested, the age band and the record of the visit itself (its status, times and the doctor who attended): [retention period] (to be completed).
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete your data at any time, except records the law requires us to keep for tax purposes. Write MY DATA to our WhatsApp number (through southafricahomedoctor.com/wa) or email [email protected] (handled as described in If you email us).
For WhatsApp and website requests, deletion destroys your personal encryption key in our systems, so the data we hold about you there becomes unreadable, in our backups too. Emails are deleted one by one, in our software, in Telegram and in both Gmail mailboxes, when you ask. Deletion cannot reach other messages already delivered through WhatsApp (Meta) or Telegram, or the medical record kept by the doctor who saw you; ask the doctor about that record.
Our manual under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA): [PAIA manual] (to be completed).
Complaints to the Information Regulator
You can complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) if you believe your personal information has been processed in a way that breaches POPIA. The Regulator's complaints page explains that complaints are lodged through its eService Portal, after registering a user profile.
- Website: inforegulator.org.za
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 010 023 5200, toll free 0800 017 160
- Address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Dr, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
🚨 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.