Running Teleconsultation From an Indian Clinic: What the 2020 Guidelines Ask For, and How WhatsApp Video Fits

A consultation over video is still a consultation: the same doctor, the same duty to record what happened, and a few extra expectations that only exist because the patient is not in the room. This post summarises what India's Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020 ask of a registered medical practitioner, at a high level and with hedged wording, as understood in 2026, then describes what CuraVerto's Teleconsult feature does today. It is not legal advice.

What the 2020 guidelines ask of the doctor, in plain terms

1. 1Identity, both waysThe doctor is expected to confirm who the patient is (name, age, address, phone number, or another appropriate identification) and to tell the patient their own name and qualification. The doctor's registration number is expected on the prescription and on communication the clinic sends.
2. 2ConsentWhen the patient starts the consultation, the guidelines treat consent as implied by that action. When someone else starts it, for example another practitioner or a caregiver, the patient's consent is expected to be obtained in some form, such as a message, audio or video. The guidelines are mainly about the consultation itself. Recording it is a separate step that raises the clinic's own DPDP Act consent obligations.
3. 3Information before prescribingA doctor is expected to be satisfied that enough relevant information about the patient has been collected before prescribing, and to decline or convert to an in-person visit where an examination is genuinely needed. The guidelines also distinguish first consultations from follow-ups and set out which categories of medicines may be prescribed in which situation, so a clinic should read that part with its own counsel.
4. 4RecordsRecords of the interaction, such as call logs or text records, and the patient record itself, including consent, history and reports, are expected to be maintained for the period prescribed. A telemedicine consultation does not get a lighter documentation standard than a visit.
5. 5A prescription the patient actually receivesThe patient is expected to be given a digital copy of the signed prescription or e-prescription, for example by email or a messaging platform.

The guidelines were issued in March 2020 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with NITI Aayog, through the Board of Governors then standing in for the Medical Council of India. That is a summary, not an interpretation. Details such as which medicines may be prescribed on a first video consultation, or how the rules interact with later notifications, are questions to put to counsel before a clinic builds a workflow around them.

How CuraVerto Teleconsult works today

1. 1Doctor sideThe doctor joins from the appointment inside CuraVerto with a signed-in session. The room is created against that appointment if it does not exist yet, and every room creation is written to the audit log.
2. 2Patient sideThe patient joins with the link alone, no login. The room link is the credential, and where the link carries a phone number the join call checks it against the phone on the appointment.
3. 3RecordingThe room can only be recorded when the appointment has recording consent switched on. Starting a recording without it is refused by the server with a message that patient recording consent is required.
4. 4Consent captureOn the join page the patient sees an "I consent to recording" tick box, and the Join button stays disabled until it is ticked when recording is enabled. The tick is stored as a consent row against the patient and the appointment, in an insert-only consent table.
5. 5After the callCuraVerto generates a short clinical summary of the session and saves it on the session record, and the doctor writes and sends the prescription from the same record, delivered to the patient on WhatsApp.

In CuraVerto, the clinic sends the join link on WhatsApp from the appointment, and the WhatsApp booking bot can also book a video consultation when the service is one the clinic has set up as video.

Where that lines up with the guidelines, and where it does not

The pattern is deliberate. Software can make the compliant step the easy step, and it can refuse the one step that must not happen without consent, which is recording. It cannot decide clinical suitability for a video visit. That judgement stays with the doctor, as the guidelines intend.

What it costs, and which plan it needs

• ₹5
  per minute of video or audio
• ₹3
  per minute more when a consented recording is made
• ₹3
  per minute for the optional AI transcript

It is switched on for the clinic from the Marketplace. Nothing is charged per doctor for having the feature on. CuraVerto clinics on CMS, ART or HMS get the same metering, since the rate is usage based rather than plan based.

A short setup checklist for a clinic starting video consultations

1. 1Choose video visit typesDecide which visit types a doctor is comfortable doing on video, and set those up as video services so the bot and the front desk book them correctly.
2. 2Recording consentSwitch recording consent on only for doctors who actually record, and tell patients before the call why.
3. 3Registration numberMake sure each doctor's registration number is on their profile so it prints on the prescription.
4. 4Examination neededAgree what happens when a video visit needs an examination: convert it to an in-person appointment and note the reason on the record.
5. 5Counsel, oncePut the consultation types, your recording practice and your retention period in front of your counsel once, rather than deciding case by case.

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