As a specialist surgical practice, we may collect both general personal data and sensitive “special personal information” (health and medical records) necessary for your diagnosis, surgical treatment, and billing. This information may include:

• Full name, ID number, gender, and date of birth
• Contact details (phone number, email address, physical address)
• Medical aid details and billing information
• Health and medical history, family history, clinical notes, surgical records, X-rays, and treatment plans
• Next-of-kin or emergency contact detail

We collect information from you personally to provide you with medical care and treatment, manage our medical practice and your account. We may also need to collect information from other sources such as your medical aid, relatives or other health care providers. This information may be collected in various ways such as over the phone, in writing or Internet and email.

We keep your personal information confidential and we process your personal information strictly for lawful medical and administrative purposes, including:

• Performing clinical assessments, consultations, and maxillofacial surgical procedures
• Communicating with you, referring dental and medical practitioners, anaesthetists, and hospitals
• Submitting claims to medical schemes/medical aids and processing payments
• Sharing data with trusted third parties under strict confidentiality terms for clinical or administrative reasons such as dental Laboratories and practice management software systems and secure IT cloud storage hosts
• Complying with regulatory obligations, statutory retention periods, and HPCSA guidelines

Your personal information may be stored on our computer medical records system and/or in handwritten medical records.

We employ robust technical and organizational measures to safeguard your physical and electronic data. This includes password-protected systems, antivirus protections, and locked physical filing cabinets, to prevent unauthorized access or data loss.

We retain your medical and financial records only for as long as required by law (including the Health Professions Act, National Archives Act, and the Medical Schemes Act) or necessary for the purposes for which they were collected.

We are fully committed to take the utmost precautions in protecting your personal information but however will not be liable for any loss or damage as a result of the disclosure of any personal information.

In the unlikely event of a data breach, we are legally mandated to notify you and the South African Information Regulator immediately.

Your personal information is not transferred to an overseas country or international organisation unless we have your consent or we are required to do so by law.

Personal information in physical record format is captured in the practice medical system as soon as possible to prevent unauthorized access or data loss. Once safely stored on the medical system these physical records are shredded and certificates of destruction is issued, ensuring complete confidentiality.

We retain your medical and financial records on the practice medical system only for as long as required by law (including the Health Professions Act, National Archives Act, and the Medical Schemes Act) or necessary for the purposes for which they were collected, whereafter these records are destroyed.

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Request access to the personal and medical records we hold about you
• Request correction, update, or deletion of inaccurate or obsolete personal data
• Object to the processing of your personal information (subject to legislation)
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you feel your privacy rights have been violated

1. Request for access to a record (InfoRegSA-PAIA-Form02-Reg7.pdf)


2. Outcome of request and fees payable (Form-3-PAIA.pdf)


3. Internal appeal form (required for public bodies; private bodies generally omit this) (InfoRegSA-PAIA-Form02-Reg7.pdf)


4. Objection to the processing of personal information (InfoRegSA-PAIA-Form02-Reg7.pdf)


5. Request for correction or deletion of personal information (InfoRegSA-PAIA-Form02-Reg7.pdf)

Our contact details for any queries, complaints or requests for access to medical records: info@mfos.co.za | 012 346 8416