How we look after your information

Section oneWho we are

This policy explains how Medilution Lifestyle and Wellness Clinic, led by Dr Nomcebo Mthembu, collects, uses and protects your personal information. We are a private medical practice with two branches in KwaZulu-Natal.

Section twoWhat this policy covers

This policy covers the personal information we collect through this website, mainly through our enquiry form, and through the messages you send us by email or WhatsApp after visiting the site.

Our website is for information and enquiries only. We do not provide consultations, treatment or bookings online. If you become a patient, your clinical records are kept at the clinic and are handled under the record keeping rules of the Health Professions Council of South Africa, the National Health Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act.

Section threeWhat information we collect

• Your contact details. Your name, email address and phone number, when you give them to us.
• Your message. Whatever you choose to write to us in the enquiry form, by email or on WhatsApp.
• Health information. Anything about your health that you choose to mention in that message.
• Website information. Basic technical information such as your device type, browser and the pages you visit, collected through cookies and Google’s website measurement tools. We use this to understand how the website is used, not to identify you.

Section fourYour health information

Information about your health receives extra protection under South African law. If you mention your health in an enquiry, we use that information only to respond to you and to help you arrange a visit, and only people who are bound by a duty of confidentiality can see it.

Section fiveWhy we use your information

• To reply to your enquiry and answer your questions.
• To help you arrange a visit to one of our branches, if you would like one.
• To meet our legal and professional obligations.
• To understand how our website is used, so that we can improve it.

We will only send you health articles or clinic news if you have asked us to, and you can stop them at any time.

Section sixWho we share it with

We never sell your personal information. We share it only where it is necessary:

• With our own staff who need it in order to help you, all of whom are bound by confidentiality.
• With the service providers who run our website, our email and our messaging on our behalf, under agreements that require them to protect your information. These include our website hosting and email providers, Google, and Meta, which operates WhatsApp.
• With authorities, where the law requires it of us.

Section sevenInformation stored outside South Africa

Some of our service providers, such as Google and WhatsApp, may store information on servers outside South Africa. Where this happens, we rely on providers that are bound by data protection laws or agreements offering protection similar to our own law.

Section eightHow long we keep it

We keep your information only for as long as we need it, or for as long as the law requires us to. We are currently setting written periods for each type of record, and we will publish them here once they are agreed.

If you would like us to delete an enquiry you have sent us, you can ask and we will do so, unless we are required to keep it.

Section nineHow we protect it

We take reasonable steps to keep your information safe. These include limiting access to the people who need it, secure passwords and two step login on our website and email, an encrypted website, and keeping our website and systems up to date.

If we ever discover that your information has been accessed without permission, we will tell you and the Information Regulator, as the law requires.

Section tenYour rights

You have the right to:

• Ask whether we hold information about you, and ask for a copy of it.
• Ask us to correct information that is wrong or out of date.
• Ask us to delete information that we no longer need and are not required to keep.
• Object to our use of your information, and withdraw your consent at any time.
• Stop receiving any messages you have signed up for.
• Complain to the Information Regulator.

To use any of these rights, contact us using the details in section thirteen. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. Some requests are handled under our access to information manual, which is available on request.

Section elevenCookies

Our website uses a small number of cookies. Some are needed for the site to work. Others help us understand how visitors use it. You can clear cookies in your browser at any time, and most browsers let you block them.

Section twelveChildren

If you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to contact us on your behalf. We only process a child’s personal information with the consent of a parent or guardian, or where the law allows it.

Section thirteenHow to contact us about privacy

Our Information Officer is the head of the practice, Dr Nomcebo Mthembu. If you have a question about your information, or you would like to use any of the rights in section ten, please write to us:

Please mark your message for the attention of the Information Officer so that it reaches the right person.

Section fourteenComplaints to the Information Regulator

We would like the chance to put things right ourselves, so please contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Section fifteenChanges to this policy

We update this policy as our practice and our website change. The current version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated at the top.