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Dobar Doktor

Privacy policy

This policy explains which personal data Dobar Doktor processes, why, and for how long. The data controller is [LEGAL ENTITY — name], [address], [email protected]. Effective from [date].

Phone number for reviews and sign-in

To leave a review you verify your mobile number with an SMS code. We use the number only for that verification and to prevent multiple reviews from the same number: the review stores only a hash (HMAC-SHA256 with a secret key) of the number, from which it cannot be reconstructed. The number itself is kept in the verification log for 24 hours and in the SMS log for 90 days, then deleted automatically. It is never shown publicly and never given to doctors.

Doctors sign in with an SMS code sent to the number they claimed their profile with; that number is part of their account while the account exists.

IP addresses

We store your IP address when an SMS code is sent (up to 90 days), when a number is verified (24 hours), when you recommend a doctor (while the suggestion is open; suggestions are deleted one year after they are handled) and when you use the contact form (up to one year after handling), solely to prevent abuse (rate limiting). Server logs containing IP addresses are kept for at most 30 days.

Profile view counting

To show doctors how many people looked at their profile we count views without cookies or tracking: the browser sends a short notice when a profile is opened, and we keep only a daily view count and, for at most three days, a hash (sha256) of the IP address, browser and a daily secret to tell unique visitors apart. The hash cannot be turned back into an IP address and is not stored permanently; after three days only aggregate numbers per doctor and day remain.

Reviews

A review (rating, text, optional display name, date) is published. The display name is optional; without it the review shows as "Anonymous". You can ask for a review to be deleted through the contact form, naming the doctor and the date.

Patient account

You can create an account with your mobile number (verified by an SMS code, no password). The account holds: the phone number, optionally a name, an e-mail address and a language, your notification choices, the creation date and, once confirmed, the date the e-mail was verified. We confirm the e-mail through a signed link valid for 24 hours; an unconfirmed address is not used to send you messages. Reviews written with that number (also before the account existed) are linked to the account so you can edit and delete them. You can delete the account yourself at any time ("Delete account"): the account data is removed immediately and your reviews stay on the site as anonymous (no name, no link to you) — to remove them as well, delete them before deleting the account. If the same number is also a doctor account, only the patient side is removed. The phone number is your account: carriers sometimes reassign (recycle) a number that was given up, so delete the account before you give up the number or when you change it.

Booked appointments

When you book an appointment online we keep for it: the practice and doctor, date and time, the status (e.g. requested, confirmed, cancelled), your name, your phone number and e-mail (a copy taken at booking time), the note you leave (up to 300 characters — please no detailed health information) and, if the practice cancels or declines, its message to you. The practice sees the name, phone and note to manage the appointment. When the appointment is confirmed we send an SMS with the doctor's name, date and time, the address and a link to the appointment, and by e-mail (if you entered one) notices about the request, the confirmation and cancellations. If you miss several appointments within 12 months, online booking may be disabled for your account.

The day before a confirmed appointment we send a reminder by e-mail (if you entered one); if the practice declines the request or does not confirm it in time we tell you by e-mail, or — if you have no e-mail — by SMS when the appointment is declined or cancelled.

Retention: 12 months after the appointment date the data are anonymised (declined, unanswered and cancelled appointments already 3 months after the date) — the link to your account, the name, phone, e-mail and note are deleted; only the practice, time and status remain for the doctor's statistics. If you delete your account, upcoming appointments are cancelled and all appointments are anonymised the same way at once.

A doctor can see their appointments in their own calendar through a private subscription address (iCal), created only after they confirm that their calendar provider will receive patient names and appointment times. By default the calendar contains only the name, the time and a link to the agenda; the patient's phone number and note are added only if the doctor switches them on separately on the calendar page, and the doctor can switch them off again at any time. The address contains a secret; anyone holding it sees this data for current appointments, so the doctor keeps it secret and can invalidate it at any time ("Reset the address"). Patients receive a calendar file (.ics) with the confirmation; the "Add to calendar" links (Google, Outlook, Yahoo) send the time, doctor and address to that service only when you click them.

E-mails about your appointments wait in a sending queue for seconds; the queue holds only the appointment number, the e-mail itself is put together when it is sent. E-mails that cannot be delivered are kept for at most 30 days for a retry, then deleted. Deleting your account also deletes e-mails to you that are still waiting.

Doctor data

We publish professional data about doctors (name, title, specialty, practice, address, phone, opening hours) on the basis of legitimate interest — the public's interest in information about health professionals — from public sources and from the doctors themselves. Profiles not claimed by the doctor are built automatically from public registers — the Doctors' Chamber list of valid licences, the Health Insurance Fund's code list of contracted doctors, the data.gov.mk register of health workers, the Ministry of Health pages and OpenStreetMap (see Data sources); every such profile states which sources it was built from and when, and the licence number is kept only as an identifier and never published. Doctors can correct their data through a claimed profile or request correction or removal via contact; a profile whose licence disappears from the Chamber's list is hidden from the public, not deleted. When a doctor claims a profile we also keep an e-mail, phone and licence number to verify identity; rejected requests are deleted after one year.

Cookies

  • A session cookie — created only when you start a phone verification, sign-in or claim; expires when the browser closes.
  • A "remember me" cookie for signed-in doctors (30 days) and for patients who tick "remember me" (7 days); a patient's logout ends it on every device.
  • We measure visits with a cookieless tool that stores no personal data.
  • No analytics, advertising or third-party cookies. That is why there is no cookie banner.

Third parties (processors)

  • SMS provider — [provider name] receives the number and the message text to deliver it (verification codes and appointment confirmations).
  • E-mail — [provider name] sends claim notifications and contact-form messages.
  • Maps — the map on a profile loads tiles from OpenStreetMap; your browser sends its IP address to the OpenStreetMap Foundation's servers (their policy).
  • Cloudflare — network protection and acceleration; sees traffic to the site (IP addresses) as a processor.

Your rights

Under the Law on Personal Data Protection you have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, objection and data portability, and the right to complain to the Personal Data Protection Agency. Send requests to [email protected] or through the contact form; we answer within 30 days.

Changes

Changes to this policy are published on this page with a new effective date.