---
title: "Running Teleconsultation From an Indian Clinic: What the 2020 Guidelines Ask For, and How WhatsApp Video Fits"
url: https://curaverto.com/blog/teleconsult-india-clinic-rules-whatsapp-video
updated: 2026-09-10
source: first-party vendor documentation
---

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

Category: Practice Management · Author: Antony Dick, Founder & CEO · Reading time: 7 min read

Video consultation is easy to switch on and easy to run badly. India's Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020 set out what a registered doctor is expected to do around consent, identity, records and prescriptions. This post summarises those expectations at a high level, hedged as of 2026, then describes exactly what CuraVerto Teleconsult does today so a clinic can see where its own habits still matter.

Most clinics did not plan to become telemedicine providers. A patient could not travel, a follow-up did not need an examination, and a video link on WhatsApp was the fastest answer. The trouble is that 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 does two things. First, it 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. Second, it describes what CuraVerto's Teleconsult feature does today, and only what the code does. It is not legal advice. The guidelines have been supplemented by later regulator notifications, and how they apply to your specialty, your state and your kind of consultation is a question for your own counsel or your medical council.

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

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. They apply to registered medical practitioners. The points below are the ones that matter most to the front desk and to the software a clinic runs.

- **Identity, both ways** The 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.
- **Consent** When 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.
- **Information before prescribing** A 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.
- **Records** Records 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.
- **A prescription the patient actually receives** The patient is expected to be given a digital copy of the signed prescription or e-prescription, for example by email or a messaging platform.

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 exactly the questions to put to counsel before a clinic builds a workflow around them.

## How CuraVerto Teleconsult works today

CuraVerto Teleconsult is built into the appointment record rather than being a separate app. A visit booked as a teleconsult carries a video room against the appointment. The clinic can send the patient a join link on WhatsApp from the appointment, and CuraVerto's WhatsApp booking bot can also book a video consultation when the service is one the clinic has set up as video. The patient opens the link in a browser and joins the room. There is no app to install.

- Doctor side: the 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.
- Patient side: the patient joins with the link alone, no login. The link carries the patient's phone number and the join call checks it against the phone on the appointment. If the two do not match, the join is refused.
- Recording: the 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.
- Consent capture: on 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.
- After the call: CuraVerto 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.

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

| Guideline expectation | What CuraVerto does | What stays with the clinic |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Patient identity | The join link is tied to the appointment, and the phone on the link is checked against the phone on file. | Confirming identity on the call itself, and recording how it was confirmed. |
| Consent | Recording consent is captured on the join page and stored as an insert-only record; recording cannot start without it. | Consent for the consultation where someone other than the patient initiated it, and the clinic's wider DPDP obligations. |
| Records | The appointment, the session, the summary and the prescription live on one patient record. | Clinical notes to the standard the doctor and the medical council expect. |
| Prescription | The prescription is written in the same interface and delivered on WhatsApp. | Whether a given medicine may be prescribed on a given consultation type. |

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

CuraVerto Teleconsult is available on every plan, from Essential at ₹9,999 per year excluding GST, and is switched on for the clinic from the Marketplace. Use is metered from the clinic's prepaid wallet at ₹5 per minute of video or audio, with recording included, and an optional AI transcript is available at ₹3 per minute. Nothing is charged per doctor for having the feature on. Clinics on Pro at ₹24,999 and Plus at ₹49,999 get the same metering, since the rate is usage based rather than tier based.

## A short setup checklist for a clinic starting video consultations

- Decide 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.
- Switch recording consent on only for doctors who actually record, and tell patients before the call why.
- Make sure each doctor's registration number is on their profile so it prints on the prescription.
- Agree what happens when a video visit needs an examination: convert it to an in-person appointment and note the reason on the record.
- Put the consultation types, your recording practice and your retention period in front of your counsel once, rather than deciding case by case.

### Sources

- [Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020](https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Telemedicine.pdf) — Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with NITI Aayog. Read the current text and any later notifications before relying on this summary.
- [FAQs on Telemedicine Practice Guidelines](https://www.nmc.org.in/MCIRest/open/getDocument?path=%2FDocuments%2FPublic%2FPortal%2FLatestNews%2FFinal_FAQ-TELEMEDICINE++6-4-2020..pdf) — National Medical Commission, April 2020

### Related reading

- [WhatsApp Prescription Rules for Indian Clinics](https://curaverto.com/blog/whatsapp-prescription-rules-india)
- [DPDPA Compliance for Indian Clinics: 8 Obligations](https://curaverto.com/blog/dpdpa-compliance-clinics-india)
- [CuraVerto Teleconsult for clinics](https://curaverto.com/solutions/teleconsult)

## Frequently asked questions

### Do the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020 apply to a clinic doing video consultations on WhatsApp?

The guidelines apply to registered medical practitioners who consult patients remotely, and they cover video, audio and text modes. As understood in 2026 they are expected to apply whichever app carries the call, so a doctor using a WhatsApp link is expected to follow the same points on identity, consent, records and prescriptions. Confirm the current position for your specialty with your own counsel or medical council.

### Do I need the patient's consent to record a video consultation?

Recording is a separate step from the consultation itself, and India's DPDP Act adds its own consent and purpose requirements for personal data. In CuraVerto Teleconsult, recording cannot start unless the appointment has recording consent switched on, and the patient must tick a consent box on the join page before joining a recorded call. That tick is stored against the patient and the appointment. Whether that alone meets your obligations is a question for your counsel.

### Do patients need to install an app to join a CuraVerto video consultation?

No. The clinic sends a join link on WhatsApp from the appointment, and the patient opens it in a browser on a phone or laptop. The join step checks the phone number on the link against the phone on the appointment and refuses a mismatch.

### How much does CuraVerto Teleconsult cost, and is it on the Essential plan?

CuraVerto Teleconsult is available on every plan including Essential at ₹9,999 per year excluding GST, and is switched on from the Marketplace. Usage is metered from the clinic wallet at ₹5 per minute for video or audio with recording included, and an optional AI transcript is ₹3 per minute.

### Does CuraVerto decide whether a medicine can be prescribed on a video consultation?

No. CuraVerto delivers the prescription the doctor writes over WhatsApp and keeps it on the patient record, but it does not decide which medicines are appropriate for a given consultation type. That is a clinical and regulatory judgement that stays with the doctor and should be checked against the current guidelines.

---
Canonical: https://curaverto.com/blog/teleconsult-india-clinic-rules-whatsapp-video
Contact: sales@curaverto.com
This document is CuraVerto's own description of its product.