1. Introduction
Dr Zakiyyah Chand ("the Practice", "we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share the personal information you provide to us when you access our website, make an enquiry or book an appointment at our dental practice in Killarney, Johannesburg.
We process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and any other applicable South African privacy legislation. By using our website or engaging with our practice, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy.
2. Who We Are
The responsible party for the purposes of POPIA is:
- Practice name: Dr Zakiyyah Chand
- Location: Killarney, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Email: drzakiyyahc@gmail.com
- WhatsApp: 079 525 6278
3. Information We Collect
We may collect the following categories of personal information:
- Contact information: Your name, telephone number, email address and postal address.
- Health and medical information: Your medical and dental history, current medications, allergies and treatment records. This constitutes special personal information under POPIA and is handled with the highest level of care.
- Appointment information: Details of appointments made, cancelled or attended at our practice.
- Financial information: Payment details related to services rendered, including medical aid information where applicable.
- Website usage data: Technical data such as your IP address, browser type and pages visited, collected automatically when you visit our website.
4. How We Collect Your Information
We collect personal information directly from you when you:
- Contact us by telephone, email or through our website.
- Book or attend an appointment at the practice.
- Complete a patient intake form.
- Interact with us on social media platforms.
We may also receive information from third parties, such as referring healthcare professionals or your medical aid administrator, where this is necessary for your care.
5. Why We Use Your Information (Purpose Of Processing)
We use your personal information for the following purposes:
- To schedule and manage your appointments.
- To provide dental and related healthcare services to you.
- To maintain accurate and up-to-date patient records as required by law and professional regulations.
- To communicate with you about your treatment, follow-up care and appointment reminders.
- To process payments and administer medical aid claims.
- To comply with legal and regulatory obligations, including those imposed by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
- To improve the quality of our services and the experience of our patients.
6. Legal Basis For Processing
We process your personal information on the following grounds:
- Consent: Where you have provided explicit consent for a specific purpose (for example, for the processing of special personal information such as health records).
- Contractual necessity: Where processing is necessary to perform our agreement with you to provide dental services.
- Legal obligation: Where processing is required to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
- Legitimate interest: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests in operating a safe and effective dental practice, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
7. Sharing Your Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with the following parties, only where necessary and in accordance with POPIA:
- Healthcare professionals: Specialists, laboratories or other practitioners involved in your care, where a referral or collaboration is required.
- Medical aid administrators: To process claims on your behalf, with your knowledge and authorisation.
- Service providers: Third-party suppliers who assist us in operating our practice (e.g., appointment scheduling software, accounting services). These parties are contractually bound to process your information solely for the purposes for which it was shared.
- Regulators and authorities: Where required by law, court order or regulatory authority (e.g., the HPCSA or South African Revenue Service).
8. How We Protect Your Information
We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure or destruction. These measures include:
- Limiting access to patient records to authorised personnel only.
- Using password-protected systems and secure storage for digital records.
- Storing physical records in secured, access-controlled environments.
- Regularly reviewing and updating our security practices.
While we take every precaution, no method of data transmission or storage is entirely secure. In the event of a security breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.
9. Retention Of Your Information
We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable law and professional regulations. Patient records are generally retained for a minimum period of five years following your last treatment, or longer where required by HPCSA guidelines or other legislation. Once no longer needed, your information will be securely deleted or destroyed.
10. Your Rights Under POPIA
You have the following rights in relation to your personal information:
- Right of access: You may request confirmation of whether we hold personal information about you and request a copy of that information.
- Right to correction: You may request that inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date information be corrected or updated.
- Right to deletion: In certain circumstances, you may request that your personal information be deleted, subject to our legal and regulatory obligations.
- Right to object: You may object to the processing of your personal information where we rely on legitimate interests as our legal basis.
- Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing that occurred before withdrawal.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in section 2. We will respond to your request within a reasonable time, and in any event within the timeframes prescribed by POPIA.
11. Cookies And Website Usage
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience and to understand how visitors use our site. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use only essential and analytics cookies. You may disable cookies through your browser settings, though this may affect the functionality of our website.
12. Third-Party Links
Our website may contain links to third-party websites, including our social media profiles (Instagram and LinkedIn). These websites are governed by their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their content or practices. We encourage you to review their policies before providing any personal information.
13. Changes To This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology or applicable law. Any significant changes will be communicated by updating the "last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of our website or services after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
14. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or the way we handle your personal information, please contact us:
- Email: drzakiyyahc@gmail.com
- WhatsApp: 079 525 6278
- Address: Killarney, Johannesburg, South Africa
If you are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforeg.org.za.