The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has introduced stiff penalties for violating Do-not-disturb (DND) norms. This has caused the 12th amendment of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) where all outgoing calls to DND numbers from IVR services will be blocked.

Excerpts from the 12th Amendment
1. Disconnection of number the first time it violates DND norm.
(The earlier process included sending a warning letter to the customer and disconnect in case of a repeat complaint.)
2. All resources in the same name and address, also to be disconnected.
3. Name and address of such DND norms violating subscribers will be uploaded on the TRAI portal.
4. All other operators will download this list and within 24hrs disconnect resources from their end as well, if allotted under that customer’s name and address.
(Which means every other telecom service provider will be forced to discontinue their service to you)

Click here to read the Complete Amendment

Given these harsh punitive actions, we have adjusted Hello to avoid such a situation altogether.

What changes in Hello?

Effective Friday, 17 January, 2014
1. Hello will not allow you to make outgoing calls to DND numbers and you will see an error message when you try to call a DND number
2. You will still continue to receive calls from DND numbers.
3. You can also continue to make calls to non-DND numbers as usual

In case your number itself is a DND number, you have two options:
1. Use a non-DND number to make outbound calls using Hello OR
2. Remove your DND number from the DND registry

UPDATE: As per another TRAI regulation enacted in December 2010, calls to non-DND numbers can only be made between 09:00 AM to 09:00 PM. 

We’ve made these changes to adhere to the DND norms and provide you a smooth calling experience. If you have any feedback or questions email us at support@practo.com or call us on +91 88805 88999.

It’s the start of a fresh year, so here’s wishing you a Happy New Year.

On account of the holidays, we will be available for Support for a limited time. You can see our timings below.

1st January, 2014 – Wednesday – 10:00AM to 6:00PM IST

3rd January, 2014 – Friday – 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM IST

4th January, 2014 – Saturday – Closed

5th January, 2014 – Sunday – 10:00AM to 6:00PM IST

You can always send in your queries by mail at support@practo.com. We’ll be back on the 9:00AM to 9:00PM Timings from 6th January onwards.

We just released a couple of small enhancements within the Settings page with which you can now search for procedures, prescriptions and EMR faster.

Search Bar within Procedure Catalog Settings

You can now search for a procedure from your Procedure Catalog. Just type in the name of the procedure you are looking for on the search bar and you will find it shortlisted from the long list there.

Search Bar within EMR Settings ( Clinical Note)

You can now search for complaints, observations, diagnoses and file labels from Clinical Note Settings. Just type in the name of the complaint or observation or diagnosis or file label you are looking for on the search bar under the respective tab and you will find it shortlisted from the long list there.

Search Bar within Prescription Settings (Drug Catalog)

You can now search for a Drug from your Drug catalog in the Prescription Settings. Just type in the name of the drug you are looking for on the search bar and you will find it shortlisted from the long list there.

Watch this space for more updates.

The recent updates made on patient profile will help you track, treat and manage patients better.

You can now merge two patient accounts

Your Contacts section now comes with a button, that lets you merge two patient accounts into one.

For example if a patient has two accounts titled as Neil S ( P001) and Neil S (P130412) , you can now merge these two accounts into a single one. While merging if there are any fields with multiple values, you can choose the value that should be a part of the merged profile by clicking on button against it.

Patient notes can now be deleted

Patient registration forms now mention Aadhar ID

Your patient registration forms online and on printouts, now have a field for Aadhar ID.

The Indian government has released a number of beneficiary health insurance claims that are linked to the Aadhar ID of a citizen. If your clinic happens to participate in government health insurance schemes, this recent update now makes it easier for your clinic to record your patients Aadhar ID on all the documentation such as receipts and prescriptions, that are necessary to make claims and reimbursements.

Watch this space for more exciting updates.