Review Policy

We are the trust layer before booking, not a court and not a medical authority. Our reviews describe the experience of care: how a doctor communicated, explained things, and looked after you. They are not the place to assert medical facts or settle serious complaints. Throughout, we follow one principle above all others: write from gratitude, not anger.

1. Write from gratitude, not anger

Tell other patients what the visit was actually like, how the doctor communicated, explained things, and cared for you. Please don't share medical diagnoses, accusations, or anyone's private health details. Serious concerns belong with the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), not a review.

Honesty matters more than positivity. A civil, low-rated review, “I waited over an hour and felt rushed”, is welcome and will be published. Gratitude-first is a default of tone, never a way to silence honest, respectful feedback.

2. What we publish

We publish a review when all of the following are true:

• It describes a real visit or experience of care, communication, clarity, waiting, empathy, or the outcome as you felt it.
• It is specific and plausible, with enough context (such as the hospital or what the visit was generally for) to be useful to another patient.
• It keeps a civil tone, even when the rating is low.
• It contains no private third-party data, no diagnoses asserted as fact, no contact details, and no profanity or slurs.
• It is your own genuine experience, one review per doctor, written without coordination or incentive.

3. What we reject

To protect patients, doctors and the platform, we do not publish reviews that fall into any of the categories below. Where a complaint is serious, we'll point you to the right channel instead.

• Negligence or criminal claims, accusations such as “malpractice”, “fraud”, or that a doctor caused harm or death. These are routed to the SLMC, not published.
• Medical diagnoses asserted as fact, for example, claiming a doctor “misdiagnosed” a specific condition.
• Private health data, names, identifiers, or sensitive conditions of other patients or third parties.
• Defamatory or unverifiable accusations, claims of corruption or illegal acts with no basis.
• Hate or harassment, slurs, threats, or targeting protected attributes.
• Spam or promotion, links, phone numbers, or “channel me at X clinic”.
• Not a genuine visit, reviews from people who never visited, competitors, or coordinated campaigns.
• Off-topic, reviews about only the building or parking, or about the wrong doctor.
• Profanity, abusive language. Where it is borderline, we may invite an edit rather than reject outright.

4. Safe language, encouraged vs discouraged

The clearest way to keep a review publishable is to describe your experience rather than assert a clinical fact.

Encouraged: your experience of care

• “Explained my options clearly and patiently.”
• “I felt rushed and waited over an hour.”
• “Kind and reassuring with my elderly mother.”
• “It was hard to get follow-up answers afterward.”
• “The fee felt high for the time given.”
• An honest low rating paired with a civil reason.

Discouraged: claims of fact or harm

• “Misdiagnosed me.”
• “He is incompetent / a fraud.”
• “She caused my complication.”
• “Malpractice / negligence.”
• “Corrupt, takes bribes.”
• Slurs, threats, or naming other patients.

If our system spots language that reads like an accusation, it may gently suggest you rephrase. For severe matters, we'll point you to the SLMC and a private channel to contact us, rather than publish an unverified claim.

5. How moderation works

Every review is checked by our team before it appears. We aim to make a decision within about 24 hours. A review can be:

• Published, it meets the criteria above and becomes visible to everyone. Only published reviews count toward a doctor's rating.
• Rejected, it falls into a reject category. We notify you with the reason so you can edit and resubmit where appropriate.
• Flagged, held for a closer look (for example, after reports). Flagged reviews are hidden and excluded from ratings until a decision is made.

We never generate, buy, or fabricate ratings. Star scores and review counts come only from real, published patient experiences.

6. Keeping reviews genuine

A trustworthy platform depends on real experiences, so we take active steps against fake and manipulated reviews:

• Verified accounts, you sign in with a confirmed email before you can publish.
• One review per doctor, each person may review a given doctor once. You can edit your review rather than stack new ones.
• Genuine visits only, reviews from people who never visited, competitors, or paid and coordinated campaigns are removed.
• Pattern checks, we look for repeated text, bursts of activity, and other signs of manipulation, and flag them for a closer look.
• No fabricated ratings, we never generate, buy, or seed reviews. We did not pre-fill the platform with fake reviews, and a “verified visit” label is shown only when a visit was actually verified.

7. Protecting privacy in reviews

Health information is sensitive, and a review is a public, lasting record, so it is not the place for private details, yours or anyone else's.

Please do not include, and we will remove or redact:

• Diagnoses, prescriptions, lab reports, or scan images.
• The names or identifiers of other patients, family members, or staff.
• Phone numbers, NIC or passport numbers, or home addresses.
• Anyone's sensitive condition or treatment, including a child's.

Even where you have the right to share your own information, we may still trim private health details to protect you and others. Visit dates are shown only at month-and-year granularity, never as an exact appointment record.

8. Reporting a review

Any signed-in user, including the doctor, can report a review they believe breaks this policy. Choose a reason and add an optional note. When several independent reports are made about one published review, it is automatically flagged for re-review. We resolve reports promptly and let reporters know we've looked into it, without revealing the outcome publicly.

9. A doctor's right to respond

Claimed doctors can reply once to any review on their profile. We encourage a gracious, professional response, reply, don't erase. A kind reply to feedback builds more trust than a perfect rating. Honest negative reviews are not removed on request, but a review that breaks this policy, for example, defamatory, unverifiable, or containing private data, will be removed when reported.

10. Editing, deleting and appeals

You can edit or delete your own review at any time. Editing re-submits it for a quick moderation check. If a review of yours was rejected and you believe that was a mistake, reply to the notification or contact us and we'll take another look.

11. Serious complaints

We cannot resolve concerns about negligence, harm or misconduct, and it may be unfair to publish them unverified. If you have such a concern, please report it to the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), or contact our team privately and we'll help you find the right channel.