Grievance Redressal

Overview

BioTB is operated by BioTB Healthcare Network. We publish verified profiles of doctors, hospitals, clinics, AYUSH centres and diagnostic labs, together with prescription-verified patient reviews submitted by users. Because we host content provided by users, we act as an intermediary under the IT Rules 2021, and because we process personal data, we act as a data fiduciary under the DPDP Act 2023. Both laws require a clear, accessible way for people to raise grievances. This is that process.

Many issues do not need a formal grievance. A wrong OPD timing or an outdated consultation fee can be fixed quickly through our corrections policy, and a simple data request can be sent straight to the privacy team, as listed on our contact page. Use this process when you want a formal, tracked complaint with a committed timeline, or when an earlier request has not been resolved.

Who can complain

Anyone affected by content on BioTB or by how BioTB processes personal data can file a grievance, including:

• Patients, caregivers and other users of BioTB.
• Doctors and other healthcare professionals who are listed, or who believe they have been listed in error.
• Hospitals, clinics, AYUSH centres and diagnostic labs, through an authorised representative.
• People who wrote a review, and people who are mentioned in one.
• Any person whose personal data BioTB processes, or a person lawfully acting on their behalf, such as a parent or guardian.

What you can complain about

• Inaccurate listings. A profile that contains a material error, for example the wrong qualifications, a hospital the doctor no longer consults at, or an accreditation the facility does not hold, where a correction request has not resolved it.
• Review disputes. A review you believe is fake, written by someone who was not a patient, defamatory, or in breach of our patient review guidelines; or the removal or rejection of your own review.
• Privacy. How BioTB collects, uses, shares, stores or deletes your personal data, including any health information, or a request under the DPDP Act that has not been handled to your satisfaction. Our privacy policy describes how data is handled.
• Unlawful content. Content you believe is unlawful under Indian law or falls within Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules 2021, such as content that is defamatory, obscene, invasive of privacy, infringes intellectual property, or is harmful misinformation.
• Impersonation. A profile, review or account that impersonates you or another person, or falsely claims an affiliation with a doctor, hospital or BioTB.
• Breach of our terms or policies. Any other conduct you believe breaches our terms of use or published standards, including how a TrustScore™ ranking was applied under our TrustScore™ methodology.

How to file a grievance

Where to send it

• Personal data and privacy grievances: privacy@biotb.com
• Content grievances (listings, reviews, unlawful content, impersonation): clinical-editorial@biotb.com

Both addresses route to the Grievance Officer. If you send a grievance to the wrong one, we will transfer it; you do not need to resend it.

Subject line

Please start your subject line with Grievance, followed by the type and a short description, for example:

• Grievance - Content - Fake review on cardiologist profile, Lucknow
• Grievance - Data - Erasure request not completed
• Grievance - Impersonation - Profile using my name and photograph

What to include

1. Your name and an email address or phone number where we can reach you.
2. Your relationship to the matter: patient, caregiver, listed provider, authorised representative, or the person concerned.
3. The full link to each page involved, and a screenshot if the content might change.
4. A clear description of the problem and, where relevant, the law or policy you believe has been breached.
5. The outcome you are asking for: correction, removal, reinstatement, access to data, erasure, or an explanation.
6. Any supporting evidence, such as proof of identity for impersonation complaints or documents showing a fact is wrong.
7. The reference or date of any earlier request you made to BioTB about the same matter.

We may ask you to confirm your identity, particularly for data and impersonation grievances, so that we do not disclose or change information at the request of someone who is not entitled to it. Please share only the personal or health information needed to resolve your complaint.

Acknowledgement and resolution timelines

As required by the IT Rules 2021, BioTB commits to the following:

• Acknowledgement within 24 hours of receiving your grievance, with a reference you can quote in later correspondence.
• Resolution within 15 days of receipt. Our response will explain what we found, what action we took or declined to take, and why.
• Faster action for urgent content. Where a complaint concerns content that exposes a person's private areas, shows them in sexual content, or is an impersonation in electronically altered images, we will act to remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt, as Rule 3(2)(b) of the IT Rules requires.

While a content grievance is under review, we may temporarily hide disputed material, for example a review that appears to have been posted by a competitor, if leaving it visible risks harm. Where we remove or restrict content you posted, we will tell you, give the reason, and allow you to respond.

For data grievances, we respond within the timelines set by the DPDP Act and any rules made under it. These timelines are commitments; if we cannot meet one in a complex case, we will tell you why and when to expect an answer.

Escalation

If you are not satisfied with the response, reply to it within 30 days and ask for a review. A reviewer not involved in the original decision will look again at the grievance, and where it raises a clinical question, for example whether a condition guide is accurate or whether a profile's specialty description is correct, the matter is referred to the BioTB Medical Advisory Board.

If you remain dissatisfied with how a content grievance has been handled, the IT Rules 2021 allow you to appeal to a Grievance Appellate Committee constituted by the Government of India within 30 days of our decision. Data grievances can be escalated to the Data Protection Board of India, described below. Using our process does not limit any other right you have under Indian law, including going to court or a consumer forum.

Grievance Officer

In accordance with the IT Rules 2021 and the DPDP Act 2023, BioTB has designated a Grievance Officer to receive and resolve complaints.

Data Protection Board of India

Under the DPDP Act 2023, you must first give BioTB the opportunity to resolve a personal data grievance through the process above. If you are not satisfied with our response, or we do not respond within the required time, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India, the authority established under the Act to inquire into data protection complaints. Please include our grievance reference and a copy of our response when you do, as this helps the Board understand what has already been tried.

For anything that is not a grievance, such as finding a specialist through BioTB Match™ or browsing verified providers in Lucknow and Delhi NCR, you do not need to contact us at all. And if you need urgent medical help, call 108 or 112: BioTB is not an emergency service.