Who is responsible for your information
Dr Nivana Ramlachan Dermatology is the responsible party for the personal information described here. Dr Nivana Ramlachan is a medical practitioner registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
You can reach us at either practice:
Hazelwood - Club Surgical Centre, 30 Pinaster Avenue. Telephone +27 12 644 5250, email clubreception@drnivana.com.
Equestria - Libertas Office Park, Building F Room 6, corner Highway and Libertas Avenue. Telephone +27 12 807 2411, email libertasreception@drnivana.com.
The Information Officer is responsible for how we handle personal information and for answering the requests described below.
[The practice must supply] the name and contact address of the appointed Information Officer, and of any Deputy Information Officers, together with their registration with the Information Regulator.
What we collect
- Who you are. Name, identity or passport number, date of birth, contact number, email address and physical address.
- Who to contact. Your next of kin, and the person responsible for your account if that is not you.
- Your health. Medical history, skin conditions, photographs of your skin, the treatments you have had and the notes your clinician makes. This is special personal information under POPIA and we treat it accordingly.
- Medical aid. Your scheme, plan, membership number and the main member's details, where you give them to us.
- Money. What you were charged, what you paid, and purchase history where you buy from us.
- How you use the app. Sign-in records, the pages you open and the device you open them on, so we can keep the system secure and show you what you asked for.
Most of this comes from you. Some comes from elsewhere: a referring doctor may send us a report, a laboratory may send us a result, and where you consent, a medical aid may confirm your membership.
Why we collect it
We use your information to treat you and to run the practice. In practice that means booking and reminding you of appointments, keeping your clinical record, taking and comparing photographs of your skin where you have agreed to it, charging for treatment and collecting payment, answering you when you contact us, and meeting the record-keeping obligations that apply to a medical practice.
Where you have agreed separately, we also send you news and offers. That is never assumed and never a condition of treatment. You can switch it off at any time and the change takes effect immediately.
Whether you have to give it to us
Some of it, yes. We cannot treat you safely without a clinical history, and we cannot invoice you or your medical aid without your identity and account details. The law also requires a medical practice to keep proper records. If you withhold this information we may not be able to treat you.
The rest is voluntary. Photographs for comparison over time, marketing, and the channels you prefer to be contacted on are all your choice, and declining them changes nothing about the care you receive.
Who else sees it
We do not sell your information and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing.
We do share it where we have to in order to do the work: with the people who host and support this system under a written agreement that binds them to the same duties we have, with payment processors when you pay, with couriers when something is delivered to you, with laboratories and specialists involved in your care, and with your medical aid where you have asked us to claim. Where the law requires disclosure, we comply, and we tell you unless we are forbidden to.
[The practice must supply] confirmation of whether any personal information is stored or processed outside South Africa, and if so where, so that the transborder section below can be completed accurately.
How long we keep it
Clinical records are kept for the periods required of a medical practice, which are longer than most people expect and longer than we would otherwise choose. The floor for an adult's record is six years from the last treatment, and a child's record is kept until they turn twenty one. Financial records follow the periods set by tax legislation.
Closing your account does not delete your clinical record, because we are not permitted to destroy it while those periods run. When a period ends, the record is deleted or anonymised.
Your rights
You may ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct anything that is wrong or out of date. You may object to processing that relies on our legitimate interests, and withdraw any consent you have given, which stops that processing from then on without affecting what was lawful before. You may ask us to delete information, and we will do so except where we are required to keep it.
Clinical notes are handled with more care than the rest. A request for them is reviewed by the Information Officer with the treating clinician before anything is released, because notes can contain third-party information and material that could cause harm if handed over without context. If we hold anything back we tell you what, and why.
To exercise any of these, contact the Information Officer at either practice above, or use the permissions screen in the app for anything to do with consent.
Complaining
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, tell us first and we will try to put it right. You are also entitled to complain directly to the Information Regulator at any point:
Information Regulator (South Africa), JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. General enquiries enquiries@inforegulator.org.za, POPIA complaints POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za.
[The practice must verify] these contact details against the Regulator's website before this notice is published, as the Regulator has changed them before.
Changes to this notice
We may update this notice. Each version is kept, so that what the notice said when you read it can always be established. The version and date are shown at the foot of this page.