PRIVACY POLICY

 At Virtual Care, we are committed to protecting your privacy and we take great care of your personal information. This policy will help you understand how we use and protect your data. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us via email at info@virtualcare-africa.com. This should be read together with our Terms and Conditions, which together, apply to your use of the Virtual Care Application and Website.

By accessing or using the Virtual Care Platform and associated services, you agree to the practices and policies outlined in this privacy policy and you hereby consent to the collection, use, and sharing of your information as described in this privacy policy. If you do not agree with this privacy policy, you cannot use the services. Suppose you use the services on behalf of someone else (such as your child) or an entity (such as your employer). In that case, you represent that you are authorized by such individual or entity to accept this privacy policy on such individual’s or entity’s behalf.

This policy covers Refund, Cancellation of appointment conditions, Data Privacy, SMS, and Digital Marketing among others.


1. REFUND POLICY

In case a Doctor Cancels a Patient’s appointment, the Patient will have the option of Rescheduling with either the same Doctor or another Doctor of His/ Her own choice. His/her payment is safe and will be used to consult another Doctor.

Virtual Care Platform therefore gives the option of Rescheduling as a refund hence the patient is not losing.

In case a patient cancels an appointment due to emergency or poor network coverage, 50% of his/ her payment will be restored to his/her account in the platform and reserved for future consultation. A patient will thus top up the remaining 50% of the initial payment to be able to book an appointment.


2. CANCELLATION AND RESCHEDULING POLICY

a. Cancelation of an appointment happens 3 hours or more before the appointment time, and reasons for cancellation must be given.

b. For in-person visits, the Doctor can only cancel 12 hours before the appointment time.

c. If you are a provider, you must use your best endeavours to contact a patient promptly if you become aware that you will not be able to fulfill the patient’s appointment. We may terminate your account if you are repeatedly unable to fulfill patients’ appointments on time.

d. Rescheduling of an appointment happens 1 hour or more before the appointment time.


3. DATA PROTECTION POLICY

3.1. Overview

We are duly registered as a Data Handler under the DATA PROTECTION ACT, 2019; Identification Number 307-8608-A8EF.

Virtual Care Africa is committed to respecting the privacy rights of our clients when they use our services and mobile applications provided by the platform.

We created this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) to give you confidence as you use our platform and services and to demonstrate our commitment to the protection of privacy. This privacy policy covers our practices concerning personally identifiable information (“personal information”) that we gather when you use our website and services. 

Your use of the services is, at all times, subject to the Agreement (as the term “Agreement” is defined in our Terms of Use), which incorporates this Privacy Policy. 

3.2. Information Virtual Care Collects

Some of the Services Virtual Care offers require us to learn more about you so that we can best meet your needs.

3.2.1 Personal Information Virtual Care Collects Directly From You

We receive Personal Information directly from you when you voluntarily provide us with such

Personal Information, including, without limitation, the following:

(1) contact data (such as your e-mail address and phone number);

(2) demographic data (such as your country, gender, or date of birth);

(3) other identifying information that you voluntarily choose to provide to us, including, without limitation, unique identifiers such as ID’s and personal information in emails or letters that you send to us.

We may also collect additional information, which may be personal information, as otherwise described to you at the point of collection or with your consent. You may still access and use some of the Services if you choose not to provide us with any Personal Information, but some features of the Services that require your Personal Information, such as booking doctors’ appointments, will not be accessible to you.

3.2.2 Online and Offline Payment Processing Information

When you make a payment through our Services (as further described in and subject to other provisions of the Agreement), your payment card information is collected and stored by our payment processing partner, such as Pesapal Limited (www.pesapal.com). Our payment processing partner collects your voluntarily provided payment card information necessary to process your payment. Such a partner’s use and storage of information is governed by its applicable terms of service and privacy policy.

3.2.3 Information from Third-Party Sources

Some third parties, such as our business partners and service providers, provide us with Personal Information about you. If you interact with a third-party service when using our services, such as if you use a third-party service to log in to our services (e.g., Facebook or Google), or if you share content from our services through a third-party social media service, the third-party service will send us certain information about you if the third-party service and your account settings allow such sharing. The information we receive will depend on the policies and your account settings with the third-party service. You understand the information transmitted to us is covered by this privacy policy; for example, the basic information we receive from Google if you choose to sign up with your Google account.

3.2.4 Information Virtual Care Collects When You Use the Services

Some information, which may include Personal Information, is automatically collected when you use our Services, such as traffic data. We also may automatically collect certain data when you use the Services, such as

(1) IP address;

(2) domain server;

(3) type of device(s) used to access the Services;

(4) web browser(s) used to access the Services;

(5) referring to a webpage or other source through which you accessed the Services;

(6) geolocation information; and

(7) other statistics and information associated with the interaction between your browser or device and the Services (collectively “Traffic Data”).


4. HOW VIRTUAL CARE AFRICA COLLECTS INFORMATION

Virtual Care collects information (including personal information and traffic data) when you use and interact with the services, and in some cases, from third-party sources. Such means of collection include:

  1. When you use the Services’ interactive tools and services, such as searching for Healthcare Providers and searching for available appointments with Healthcare Providers befor Healthcare Provider appointments.
  2. When you voluntarily provide information in free-form text boxes through the Services or responses to surveys

  3. If you download and install certain applications and software that we make available, we may receive and collect information transmitted from your computing device to provide you with the relevant Services

  4. If you use a location-enabled browser or download our mobile application, we may receive information about your location and mobile device, as applicable

  5. Through cookies, analytics services, and other tracking technology (collectively, “Tracking Tools”), as described below; and

  6. When you use the “Contact Us” function on the Site, send us an email or otherwise contact us.


5. TRACKING TOOLS, BEHAVIOURAL ADVERTISING, AND OPT-OUT OPTIONS

5.1. Tracking Tools

We may use the tools outlined below to provide our Services to, advertise to, and better understand users. Cookies: “Cookies” are small computer files transferred to your computing device that contain information such as user ID, user preferences, lists of pages visited, and activities conducted whileusing the Services. We use cookies to improve or tailor the Services, customize advertisements by tracking navigation habits, measuring performance, and storing authentication status so re-entering credentials may not be required, customize user experiences with the Services, and for analytics and fraud prevention. Web Analytics Services: We may use third-party analytics services in connection with our services, including, for example, to collect your country where you are logging on, IP address, time spent on the Website or mobile applications, pages visited, and other user information.

5.2. Behavioural Advertising

We may use online behavioural advertising. Some of our partners use Tracking Tools, such as cookies, pixel tags, and other means, to collect information about a user’s online activities to display Virtual Care ads to the user based on the user’s interests.


6. HOW VIRTUAL CARE AFRICA USES YOUR INFORMATION

We may use information that is not Personal Information to better understand who uses Virtual Care and how we can deliver a better healthcare experience, as well as what type of educational information is important to our users.

We use information, including Personal Information, to provide the Services and to help improve the Services, to develop new services, and to advertise (for example, to display Virtual Care ads on other web services). Specifically, such use may include:

  1. Providing you with the products, services, and information you request;
  2. Responding to correspondence that we receive from you;
  3. Contacting you when necessary or requested, including to remind you of an upcoming appointment;
  4. Providing, maintaining, administering, or expanding the Services, performing business analyses, or for other internal purposes to support, improve, or enhance our business, the Services, and other products and services we offer;
  5. Customizing or tailoring your experience of the Services, which may include sending customized messages or showing you Sponsored Results;
  6. Notifying you about certain resources, Healthcare Providers, or services we think you may be interested in learning more about;
  7. Sending you information about Virtual Care products or Services;
  8. Sending emails and other communications that display content that we think will interest you and according to your preferences;
  9. Combining information received from third parties with information that we have from you or about you and using the combined information for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy;
  10. Showing you advertisements, including online behavioural advertising;
  11. Fulfilling our legally required obligations, such as preventing, detecting, and investigating security incidents and potentially illegal or prohibited activities;
  12. Resolving disputes;
  13. Protecting against or deterring fraudulent, illegal, or harmful actions; and
  14. Enforcing our Terms of Use and other agreements.


7. HOW VIRTUAL CARE AFRICA MAY SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

In certain circumstances, and to perform the services, we may share certain information that we collect from you, as described in this section:

Healthcare Providers: We may share your Personal Information with Healthcare Providers with whom you choose to schedule through the Services.

We will never sell email addresses to third parties. We may share your Personal Information with our partners to customize or display our advertising.

We may share your Personal Information and/or Traffic Data with our partners who perform operational services (such as hosting, billing, fulfillment, data storage, security, insurance verification, web service analytics, or ad serving) and/or who make certain services, features or functionality available to our users.


8. STORAGE AND SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

The security of your Personal Information is important to us. We endeavour to follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the Personal Information submitted to us, both during transmission and in storage. For example, when you enter sensitive information on our Site, we encrypt that information using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

Your account is protected by a password for your privacy and security. If you access your account via a third-party site or service, you may have additional or different sign-on protections via that third-party site or service. You must prevent unauthorized access to your account and Personal Information by selecting and protecting your password and/or other sign-on mechanism appropriately and limiting access to your computer or device and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your account.

Although we make good faith efforts to store Personal Information in a secure operating environment that is not open to the public, we do not and cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information. If at any time during or after our relationship, we believe that the security of your Personal Information may have been compromised, we may seek to notify you of that development. If a notification is appropriate, we will endeavour to notify you as promptly as possible under the circumstances. If we have your e-mail address, we may notify you by e-mail to the most recent e-mail address you have provided us in your account profile. Please keep your e-mail address in your account up to date which can be updated at any time in your account profile.


9. WHAT CHOICES DO YOU HAVE WHILE USING THE SERVICE?

You can always opt not to disclose information to us, but keep in mind some information may be needed to register with us or to take advantage of some of our features.

If you are a registered user of the Services, you can modify certain Personal Information or account information by logging in and accessing your account. The information you can view, update, and delete may change as the Services change.

You must promptly notify us if any of your account data is lost, stolen, or used without permission.


10. HOW LONG VIRTUAL CARE AFRICA RETAINS YOUR INFORMATION

We retain Personal Information about you for as long as you have an open account with us or as otherwise necessary to provide you Services. In some cases, we retain Personal Information for longer, if doing so is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes or collect fees owed, prevent fraud, enforce the Agreement, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, rule, or regulation. Afterward, we retain some information in a depersonalized or aggregated form but not in a way that would identify us personally.


11. SENDING REMINDERS AND SMS TO OUR CLIENTS

The SMS sent to our clients follows our Company’s rules and compliances. It outlines the following;

1. Scope –the target audience i.e. Patients, Doctors, etc

2. Authorized users –This ensures that those who send SMS are Authorized users from Virtual Care Company

3. Content- This includes restrictions on spam, advertising, and offensive content.

4. Consent / Opt-in / Opt-Out: VCA follows a policy of allowing receivers to stop or continue receiving information about Virtual Care services and updates

5. Timings- this ensures timely delivery and specific times of notification to avoid inconveniences to clients


12. ONLINE MARKETING

Virtual Care Africa recognizes the importance of online marketing to engage with patients, share valuable healthcare information, and promote our services. This policy outlines the guidelines and responsibilities for online marketing activities conducted on behalf of the facility;

a. Ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and ethical standards.

b. Protect patient confidentiality and privacy.

c. Maintain the facility's reputation and professionalism in online spaces.

d. Provide clear guidelines for online marketing activities.

e. Protect patient privacy at all times. Do not  share patient information, including photos or case studies, without proper consent.

f. Avoid discussing specific patient cases or sharing patient testimonials without written consent.


13. HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS AND THEIR OBLIGATIONS

Virtual Care will share basic Personal Information on the user with the Healthcare providers whom you elect to visit for an appointment through the Service. This ensures that an appointment can be booked at your preferred time and date. These Healthcare Service Providers may need to collect additional Personal Information from you to build a medical history while carrying out their duties.

The Healthcare Provider is required to obtain consent from the patient in person during their initial consultation, to allow the Healthcare Provider to collect and store Personal Information, Medical History, and other Information as needed, on the patient. The Healthcare Provider will not share this information with us or anyone else without the prior approval of the patient. Virtual Care is in no way responsible for obtaining this approval for the Healthcare Provider and is in no way liable for any data collected by the Healthcare Provider.


14. CONTACT US

If you have any comments, concerns, or questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@virtualcare-africa.com or at:

BodyKraft Healthcare Limited

Doctors Park, 7th Floor-Wing A, 3rd Parklands Avenue, Parklands, Nairobi, Kenya

Phone: (+254) 717 688 788

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