Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

CareLinky Technologies Private Limited is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, with registered office at 4th Floor, Ganesh Meridian, S.G. Highway, Ahmedabad, Gujarat — 380054, India. For the purposes of data protection law, CareLinky is the Data Fiduciary of your personal data.

For privacy-related queries, contact our Data Protection Officer at privacy@carelinky.com.

2. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly: When you register or use our platform, we may collect your name, email address, mobile number, date of birth, gender, and profile photo. Doctors additionally provide medical qualifications, MCI registration number, specialties, clinic addresses, and consultation fees. Patients may provide appointment details and optional health information such as symptoms or reason for visit.

Information collected automatically: We collect device information (device type, browser, operating system), log data (IP address, pages visited, time of visit), approximate location derived from IP address, and usage data (search terms, profiles viewed, filters applied).

Information from third parties: If you interact with our WhatsApp Business number, we receive your phone number and message content. If you register via Google, we receive your name and email. We receive transaction references from our payment gateway, Razorpay.

Sensitive personal data: Health information you provide is treated as Sensitive Personal Data under Indian law and is subject to heightened protection. We collect this only where necessary and with your explicit consent.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to operate and improve the platform, process and manage appointment bookings, send WhatsApp confirmations and reminders, display verified doctor reviews, detect and prevent fraud, comply with legal obligations, and — where you have opted in — send marketing communications. You may withdraw your consent for marketing at any time.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We share your information only in the following circumstances:

• With Doctors: When you book an appointment, your name and contact number are shared with the doctor to facilitate your visit.
• With service providers: We share data with Razorpay (payments), Meta/WATI (WhatsApp notifications), and Google (analytics and cloud infrastructure). These providers are contractually bound to protect your data.
• For legal compliance: We may disclose data if required by law, court order, or a regulatory authority.
• Business transfers: In the event of a merger or acquisition, your data may be transferred. We will notify you before this occurs.

We never share your health information with insurance companies without your consent, and we never use your appointment data for third-party advertising.

5. Cookies

We use cookies to keep you logged in (essential), understand how the platform is used (analytics), remember your preferences (functional), and measure the effectiveness of our campaigns (marketing). You can disable non-essential cookies through your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies will prevent you from logging in.

6. Data Retention

We retain your account data until you delete your account plus a 30-day grace period. Appointment records are kept for 3 years for legal compliance. Payment transaction records are retained for 7 years as required by Indian tax law. Analytics data is anonymised after 6 months. When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

7. Security

We protect your data using industry-standard measures including HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit, AES-256 encryption at rest for health data, role-based access controls, bcrypt password hashing, and OTP-based login verification. In the event of a breach, we will notify affected users and relevant authorities within 72 hours.

If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at security@carelinky.com.

8. Your Rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA), you have the right to access, correct, and erase your personal data; the right to data portability; the right to object to processing for marketing; the right to withdraw consent; the right to raise a grievance with our Data Protection Officer or the Data Protection Board of India; and the right to nominate another person to exercise your rights on your behalf.

To exercise any right, contact privacy@carelinky.com or use the Data & Privacy section in your account settings. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Children's Privacy

CareLinky is not directed to children under 18. Parents and guardians may use the platform to book appointments on behalf of their children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children without verifiable parental consent. If you believe we hold such data, contact us at privacy@carelinky.com.

10. Third-Party Links

The platform may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and recommend you review their privacy policies before sharing any personal information.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date, display a notice on the platform for at least 14 days, and notify registered users via email or WhatsApp. Continued use of the platform after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

Data Protection Officer
CareLinky Technologies Private Limited
4th Floor, Ganesh Meridian, S.G. Highway, Ahmedabad, Gujarat — 380054, India
Email: privacy@carelinky.com
Phone: +91 80000 00000

Security incidents: security@carelinky.com (responds within 24 hours)