QTIPL Prime Online Consultation – Terms and Conditions

Qikwell Technologies India Private Limited, having its registered office at WeWork, 3rd Floor, Salarpuria Symbiosis Arekere, Bannerghatta Main Road, Bengaluru 560 076, Karnataka, India with Corporate Identification Number (‘CIN’) U72900KA2011PTC060337 hereinafter referred to as (“QTIPL” or “Company”) is inter alia engaged in providing doctor consultation services to its users. QTIPL under the brand name ‘Practo’ operates the said services through https://www.practo.com and the mobile application ‘Practo’ (together, “Website”).

These terms (“Online Consultation T&C”) constitute an agreement between QTIPL and its registered medical practitioners (“Practitioners”) whereby the Practitioners agree and acknowledges that their services under this agreement are to provide the necessary diagnosis and treatment as sought by the users of QTIPL ("Users”) seeking healthcare consultations on the Website.

1. Definition: QTIPL’s Online Consultations (“Consult”) is a service offered by QTIPL that allows its Users to seek medical consultation by communicating with its Practitioners on the Website. Users may choose Practitioners of choice through the search options made available on the Website. The scope of this feature as detailed herein is collectively referred to as “Consult”.
2. Terms for Practitioners:
1. The Practitioner shall provide its services from any location provided that the other terms and conditions as agreed between the parties are met and the quality of services is not compromised.
2. The Practitioner shall promptly reply to the User after receiving User’s communication. In case of non-compliance with regard to adhering to the applicable laws/rules/regulations/guidelines by the Practitioner, QTIPL shall have the right to replace such Practitioners for the purpose of consultation to the User or remove such Practitioners from the Website.
3. The Practitioner understands and agrees that QTIPL shall at its sole discretion, at any time be entitled to, show other Practitioners available for consultation.
4. The Practitioner further understands that there is a responsibility on the Practitioner to treat the User, pari passu, as the Practitioner would have otherwise treated the User on a physical one-on-one consultation model.
5. The Practitioner has the discretion to cancel any consultation at any point in time in cases where the Practitioner feels, it is beyond his/her expertise or his/her capacity to treat the User. In such cases, it may trigger a refund to the User and the User has the option of choosing other Practitioners. However, it is strongly recommended that the Practitioner advise the User and explain appropriately for next steps, which may include referring the User for further evaluation.
6. The Practitioner is and shall be duly registered, licensed and qualified to practice medicine/provide health care, wellness services, as per applicable laws/regulations/guidelines set out by competent authorities and the Practitioner shall not be part of any arrangement which will prohibit him/her from practicing medicine within the territory of India. The Practitioner shall at all times ensure that all the applicable laws that govern the Practitioner shall be followed and utmost care shall be taken in terms of the consultation being rendered.
7. Practitioner shall provide services strictly in accordance with the accepted standards of clinical practice, follow clinical protocols, procedures and applicable regulations.
8. For consultations on the Consult platform, the Practitioner shall ensure that they respond to User's health concern within a maximum of two (2) hours of the Practitioner receiving the message (in exceptional circumstances, where the consultation was allocated to a Practitioner without their acceptance). However, the time frame for response shall be between 10 am to 8 pm.
9. In case, the Practitioner accepts a User’s consultation by their own choice, then such Practitioner shall ensure to provide a response within five (5) minutes of accepting the said consultation. Also, the response time for a Practitioner during an active consultation shall not exceed five (5) minutes.
10. In case, the Practitioner has marked himself/herself available for a particular consultation on the Consult platform and in the event a consultation has been auto allocated to a Practitioner, then such Practitioner shall ensure to provide a response to the User within five (5) minutes of accepting the consultation and during the active consultation period.
11. Practitioner should provide e-prescriptions to the Users only via the prescription module. However, when the Practitioner creates an e-prescription, the Practitioner will be required to confirm the e-prescription with their electronic signature explicitly or implicitly by clicking on the signature option made available or any other form of opt-in methods as provided therein. The Practitioner hereby agrees and covenants to be responsible and liable for the content of e-prescription and the authenticity of his signature signed electronically. In addition to any indemnity warranties provided else-where in the agreement, the Practitioner hereby agrees to hold QTIPL, its officers, employees, agents and affiliates harmless from any claims, damages, losses or penalties arising out of any third-party claims in connection with the validity of the e-prescription, its content and/or electronic signature.
12. For a Practitioner to complete a consult, it is mandatory to provide a consultation summary via the e-prescription module to all Users. The recommended contents (at least one) of the said consultation summary are as follows:
    1. Summary of presenting illness
    2. Provisional diagnosis
    3. Medicine posology including side effects if any
    4. Diagnostics
       Lifestyle changes
    5. Other instructions if any
    6. Referral for physical consultation (if necessary)
13. Where the Practitioner learns that a physical consultation is mandatory for accurate diagnosis and resolution of the case, the Practitioner shall mandatorily be required to provide a patient referral for physical evaluation along with required information via the prescription module.
14. Practitioner shall be dressed appropriately while providing services through video mode to the Users.
15. Practitioner shall not prescribe, medical termination pregnancy medication, sedatives, hypnotics, opioids, schedule X drugs, or fourth generation antibiotics on the Consult platform. If any such drugs are indicated for treatment for a given consultation, the Practitioner shall refer the User for a physical consultation.
16. In the event the Practitioner learns about physical abuse, sexual misconduct (especially in minors), or User self-harm (suicide: planned, attempted or completed), the Practitioner agrees to report such events to QTIPL via the email:medicolegal-team@practo.com immediately. In case of emergency or life-threatening situations, the Practitioner should not provide diagnosis or consultation but instead advise the patient for an in-person interaction with a healthcare provider. However, if alternative care is not available in a timely manner, in compliance with telemedicine practice guidelines, Practitioner may provide first aid, life-saving measure, counselling and advise patients to visit in person a healthcare provider.
17. The Practitioner agrees not to request/ see for images or video of the User's private body parts in any manner whatsoever until and unless all other options have been exhausted to diagnose the User’s condition and it is absolutely necessary to arrive at a probable diagnosis.
18. If Practitioner needs to change the status to 'unavailable', the same could be changed after having completed all the open consultations. In case the Practitioner leaves a consultation open and changes the status to 'unavailable', the Practitioner understands that he shall be liable to pay such penalty as may be imposed by QTIPL, in these cases.
19. The Practitioner is not allowed to use any other platform other than QTIPL platform for the purpose of interacting/communicating to provide Services. Any attempt by the Consultant to interact with the users through any other external means of communication in any manner whatsoever shall amount to a violation of this agreement by the Practitioner. It shall be the sole responsibility of the Practitioner, who has breached obligations set out hereunder to indemnify QTIPL for all losses and damages suffered as a consequence thereof.
20. If the Practitioner’s performance on the Consult platform is not compliant with the expected guidelines of QTIPL or the Practitioner is found to be misusing the Consult platform, the Practitioner may result in losing the privilege of using the Consult feature & platform.
21. The Practitioner acknowledges that should QTIPL find the Practitioner to be in violation of any of the applicable laws/rules/regulations/guidelines set out by the authorities then QTIPL shall be entitled to cancel the consultation with such Practitioner or take such other legal action as may be required.
22. In case wrong bank account details are provided by Practitioner, QTIPL will not be responsible for loss of money, if any.
23. It is further understood by the Practitioner that the information that is disclosed by the User at the time of consultation is personal information and is subject to all applicable privacy laws, shall be confidential in nature and subject to User and Practitioner privilege.
24. Practitioner agrees that all data and information about QTIPL’s processes, businesses, protocols, manuals, SOPs, guidelines, affairs, patients, finances, plans, equipment, intellectual property disclosed to Practitioner or coming to his knowledge during the performance of the services hereunder, is and shall remain the exclusive property of QTIPL. Practitioner agrees that all confidential information used by him shall solely be for the purpose of performing services herein and not for the benefit of any other person or entity whatsoever. The Practitioner agrees and acknowledges that the information that is disclosed by the User(s) at the time of consultation is sensitive personal information and is subject to all applicable privacy laws. The Practitioner agrees and acknowledges that said information, are confidential in nature and shall be subject to privilege status that is customarily available in relation to a doctor-patient relationship. Practitioner shall at all times protect and safeguard the confidential information and agrees not to disclose, give, transmit or otherwise convey any confidential information, in whole or in part, to any other person other than QTIPL and its affiliates. Practitioner agrees not to share information such as screenshots of the patient consultation on social media platforms such as whatsapp, etc. including QTIPL staff. The provisions of this clause will survive termination or expiration of this agreement for a period of 1 (one) year thereafter.
25. The Practitioner understands that QTIPL makes no promise or guarantee for any uninterrupted communication and the Practitioner shall not hold QTIPL liable, if for any reason the communication is not delivered to the User(s), or are delivered late or not accessed, despite the efforts undertaken by QTIPL.
26. It shall be the responsibility of the Practitioner to ensure that the information provided by User is accurate and not incomplete and understand that QTIPL shall not be liable for any errors in the information included in any communication between the Practitioner and User.
27. The Practitioner agrees and acknowledges that by acting in pursuance to this agreement, the characteristics of a doctor-patient relationship between him/her and the Users (who seek healthcare consultation from QTIPL) does not get affected or impacted in any manner. As such, the terms of the Indian Medical Council’s Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics Regulations, 2002 (“MCI Regulations”) or the Dental Council of India (Code of Ethics) Regulations (“DCI Regulations”) as applicable (or any substitute thereof or similar regulations) will apply to the Practitioner in his/her interactions with the Users, that are undertaken pursuant to this agreement.
28. Practitioner shall perform the services strictly in accordance with Telemedicine Practice Guidelines dated March 25, 2020, issued by the Board of Governors (“Telemedicine Guidelines”) or any other applicable guideline relating to telemedicine consultations.
29. The Practitioner represents that he/she shall be regarded as an Indian resident as per the Indian tax laws and foreign exchange regulations.
30. The Practitioner shall indemnify and hold harmless QTIPL and its affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, proceedings, penalties, damages, loss, liability, actions, costs and expenses (including but not limited to court fees and attorney fees) arising due to the services provided by Practitioner, violation of any law, rules or regulations by the Practitioner or due to such other actions, omissions or commissions of the Practitioner that gave rise to the claim.
31. The Practitioner hereby agrees to QTIPL’s medical team carrying out an audit of his/her consultations on the Consult platform for the purpose of improving treatment quality, user experience, and other related processes. The Practitioner acknowledges that the subject matter of audit may include their personal information. This personal information will be processed in accordance with QTIPL’s Privacy Policy.
3. Commercial Terms:
1. QTIPL’s standard terms for settlement of payments to Practitioners shall apply.
2. For each consultation session completed by the Practitioner, the Practitioner shall be paid lower of a) 80% of consultation charges paid by User to QTIPL or b) consultation charges paid by user as reduced by Rs 50 (or such other sum as may be decided from time to time), excluding any duties and taxes if required to be charged by QTIPL.
3. Practitioner agrees not to charge any additional fee to QTIPL towards any follow-up consult by any User within 7 days following the date of original Consult.
4. The Practitioner shall provide a bill of supply/invoice to QTIPL for the services rendered under this agreement, specifying the patient’s name, e-prescription serial number and such other details as may be required from time to time.
5. All payments to Practitioner shall be subject to applicable tax deductions/withholdings under the Income Tax Act, 1961
4. Terms and Termination:
   1. The agreement shall remain valid till it is terminated in accordance with its provisions.
   2. QTIPL or the Practitioner may terminate this agreement upon providing seven (7) business days’ notice in writing including by email. However, if either party is in material breach of this agreement and such breach is not cured within thirty (30) business days of being notified in writing of the breach, then the non-breaching party may immediately terminate this agreement.
   3. Further, QTIPL reserves the right to suspend or terminate services provided through the Website and under this agreement, with or without notice and to exercise any other remedy available under law, in case of the occurrence of the following events:
      1. Practitioner contravenes applicable laws; and/or a third-party reports violation of any of its right as a result of Consult