Terms and Conditions

Terms of use of website: Please read below terms carefully. By continuing to access and use this website the user confirm that user has accepted terms and conditions of VT described here in below. If user is not agree to the terms of use, do not use this website

Welcome to The Safe Couch website (defined hereunder). This website is operated and maintained by Ambika Khanna.

The terms “You” or “Your” refer to you as the user (irrespective of whether You are a Registered User (defined hereunder), HSP Registered User (defined hereunder) or a Non-Registered User (defined hereunder)) and the terms “TSC”, “We”, “Us”, “Company”, “Our” and/or “TSC” refer to The Safe Couch. In the event the website is being used by a person on your behalf, the expression “You” or “Your” or the “User” shall apply to such person as well.

These Terms of Use, Privacy Policy together with any additional Service specific terms and conditions, other policies which may be applicable to specific portions of the website and any disclaimers which may be present on the website are jointly referred to as “Agreement” and constitute the terms of user’s access and use of the website and the Services (defined hereunder). Where any part of the Agreement is modified in accordance with the terms of the Agreement, the Agreement shall be enforceable in its modified form. The Agreement supersedes all previous oral and written terms and conditions (if any) communicated to user.

The website: Ambika Khanna is the author and publisher of the website, which shall mean digital platform of TSC which consist of website, blog contained therein, queries answered by TSC team over email, phone or any other medium and all variants, tools, editions, add-ons, and ancillary products or services of the website (including all files and images contained therein or generated by the software, and accompanying data, herein referred to individually or collectively as “digital platform or website”). The website may be used by Users (defined below) to avail services and/or to find, access, manage and organize information including but not limited to personal or non-personal information related to therapist, counsellors, doctor, consultant, appointment, medical records and other relevant information.

The consultancy and guidance which user has received will depends on the accuracy of the information user has provided.

User’s: “Registered Users” are users:

who have successfully registered themselves with TSC through website by providing information that is true and accurate, and who can log on to their account on the website by providing their username and password (“Primary User”); or
whose profile has successfully been created on the website under the account of a primary user, by providing information that is true and accurate (“Secondary User”).

General Terms of Use: As required by law, the user must be at least 18 years of age or older, have a sound mind and not debarred by any law to contract in order to access and use the Website as a Primary User. In case the Website are to be accessed or used by a minor (i.e. a person less than 18 years of age), then only the legal guardian/representative of such person shall register himself/herself as a Primary User and provide consent to the minor to use their account and make it known to the therapist along with a consent form for the minor.

Possible limitations to care: I understand that video/audio consultation has its own limitations as compared to in-person sessions and some details could potentially be missed out despite the psychotherapist’s best efforts. I understand that tele-psychotherapy services are by appointment only and that these consultations are not suitable for help during a crisis or emergency.

Responsibility for adverse events: I understand that the psychotherapist would use their professional discretion to provide required recommendations about the type of professional service that may be required at any given point of time. At the same time, I agree to not hold my psychotherapist responsible, should any adverse events, such as lack of improvement, deterioration or situations of potential risk of harm to self or others, occur during video/ audio consultation. I understand that in such situations I may be advised to obtain treatment at the nearest available mental health or emergency service.

Confidentiality and Recording: I understand that this audio/ video consultation is strictly confidential. I agree to use a secure line/connection for these consultations, in a relatively quiet and private space. I understand that my psychotherapist will not audio or video record the session (either on mobile, using an app or online) and will not share the proceedings of this consultation with any other individual or agency. However, with my consent, my psychotherapist could use it to have their work supervised or for training of professionals. Apart from this, the details of the consultation would be shared only with a court of law, if mandated.

Notes of the tele-psychotherapy consultation will be maintained by my psychotherapist and stored in a safe location. I understand that these session notes can be made available to me, in the standard session record format, on my explicit request. I also undertake that the proceedings of these consultations are not to be recorded, shared or disseminated by me or my relatives / other contacts to any third person or through social media. However, despite safety measures taken, there are chances for breach in security in technology. In such instances, both client and psychotherapist will not hold the other responsible for the breach.

User will use the website and the features provided on the website only in relation to and in compliance with all applicable Indian laws. User will not use this website, or any feature provided on the website for any purposes not intended under this Agreement.

User should limit the use of this website to India only. We are not responsible if user avail any Service from outside India. User must have the advice and/or prescription given by such HSP validated by a local registered medical practitioner.

Certain Services are location specific. Depending on user’s location certain Services may not be available to user.

User will not deliberately use the Website in any way that is unlawful or harms TSC, its directors, employees, affiliates, distributors, partners, service providers and/or any User and/or data or content on the website.

User will not use the website for any illegal, immoral, offensive purpose or for any other purpose that may infringe or violate any applicable laws and regulations.

User will not interfere, disrupt or hamper with the proper functioning of the Website.

User may have access to business sensitive information. User shall not share such information with TSC’s direct competitors or use it for competitive purposes, except with TSC's prior written consent.

User understand that as part of user’s registration process as well as in course of user’s use of the website, user may receive communication from TSC on user’s registered contact information. These communications will relate to user’s registration, services provided by TSC, transactions that user carry out through the website and any such information found suitable of user’s attention by TSC. Please note that TSC will send these communications only to the contact details that user or HSP provide on the website. It is user’s responsibility to ensure that it provide correct contact details for the transaction user wish to enter. Further, TSC may also send notifications and reminders to user for the features that user may be using on the Website. TSC may also share the dynamic password with user in order to facilitate the online delivery of user’s medical report. User hereby consent to receive such communications from TSC.

Online Consultations:
User are advised not to use the TSC online consultation services in case of any medical emergencies like accidents, bleeding injuries, burns, sexual abuse/assault, medico-legal cases or if user or secondary user are in a critical condition.

If user is a Registered User but do not satisfy the above pre-conditions, please do not avail the online consultation services. TSC will not be responsible or liable for any harm or loss that user may suffer if user elect to access those Services.

All users, who are patients, and who opt for online consultation services, may be required to undergo an initial medical examination to ascertain and record medical history, medication history and medical status before video-consulting support can be provided.

Online consultation services are provided at the express consent by the user and the same shall not be construed as a replacement for physical consultation and the Services are meant for general consultation only. If after online consultation, if it is recommended to undergo any diagnostic tests or if user is issued with a Prescription, the same are provided based on the information and preliminary examination, hence the same shall not be treated as accurate, final and conclusive. HSP reserves their rights to modify the prescription or recommended diagnostic tests if the user provides any additional information in future consultation.

Online consultation services may be provided via the following communication channels Call Centre Helplines / Telephones / Mobiles / IM Chats / Online Chats / SMS & Text Chats with and without camera and video facilities at the sole discretion of VT. Reasonable efforts will be made to protect user’s privacy and confidentiality across Health Consultation Services.

TSC’ right to the website and TSC content:
TSC respects the intellectual property rights of others and expect the same from the users of its services. The website, user content and the TSC Content are protected by applicable intellectual property laws. All intellectual property in and to the website and all software, techniques and processes used in connection with the aforesaid, belongs exclusively to TSC or its licensors. As a user, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the website as per the terms of the Agreement. Through your use of the website, by no means are any intellectual property rights impliedly or expressly granted by TSC to you in respect of such works.

TSC and/or its licensors assert all proprietary rights in and to all names and trademarks contained in the website. Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing, the name and logo of “TSC” is/are the trademarks and copyright (inclusive of any other applicable intellectual property right) of TSC and/or its licensors. Any use of such name or logo, unless otherwise authorized in a written agreement, will constitute an infringement upon the trademark and copyright (or any other such intellectual property right) of TSC and/or its licensors and may be actionable under applicable laws.

Except as stated otherwise in this Agreement, all TSC Content (including all intellectual property rights to such content) is owned exclusively by TSC and/or its licensors.

When user use the website in accordance with this Agreement, a limited royalty-free right is granted to the user by TSC to use TSC Content only for personal and non-commercial use in India for the term of the Agreement.

Unless explicitly stated herein, nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as conferring on the user any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise.

Unless expressly authorized by TSC, the user agrees not to reproduce, modify, sell, distribute, mirror, frame, republish, download, transmit, or create derivative works of the TSC Content, in whole or in part, by any means or copy/record online medical consultancy availed via website. Any such act will amount to breach of agreement by the user for which user will be liable to TSC for any and all claims damages and cost. You must not remove or modify any copyright or trademark notice, or other notice of ownership.

Rights in User Content:
User agree that they are the sole owner of all rights (including all intellectual property rights) in the user content that user post on the website or provide to TSC. To the extent permissible by law, user hereby grant TSC a perpetual, non-revocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to make use of such user content including the right to copy, distribute, display, reproduce, modify, adapt, the user content, and create derivate works of the user content.

User consent & Privacy:
User will have the option of giving out its identifiable health information including physical, physiological and mental health condition, and medical records and history while the time of consultation which may be accessed by TSC and/or HSPs, during the course of providing Services to user. If user is a secondary user, its information may be provided to TSC by the primary user under whose account you are using and accessing the Website. If user is not lawfully authorized the primary user to do so, kindly reach out to us immediately at cpambikaburman@gmail.com. By continuing to access and use the Website and Service, the user confirm that user as a secondary user have authorized Primary User to provide its information to TSC and on the basis of information provided by the Primary User TSC and/or HSP would generate the prescription in the Secondary User’s name.

TSC may collect various personal information from user when user use the website and for the features provided by the website.

Our Privacy Policy sets out terms with respect to the collection, storage, use, processing, transfer and disclosure of any such personal information.

When user click on the ‘I accept’ tab at the time of booking an appointment or access the website or otherwise provide user’s personal information, user specifically consent to TSC Privacy Policy & Terms of Use.

TSC may disclose/transfer user’s personal information in accordance with applicable law and for the purposes as set out in the privacy policy.

TSC is required by law to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of user’s medical information. We assure to take user’s privacy seriously and to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the information provided by user to TSC. We, however, do not represent, warrant or guarantee that our safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to user’s personal information is fool proof. Further, TSC may itself have to access user’s medical information (medical records, consultation history, transcripts etc.) in order to investigate any deficiencies, complaints or grievances that user will bring to the notice of TSC. User hereby specifically authorize TSC to access user’s medical information in such cases.

Other websites
User may be provided with links on the Website that direct user to 3 rd party websites / content (collectively “Third Party Content”). Links to such 3 rd party websites are provided for user’s convenience only. User is advised to exercise its independent judgment and prudence when visiting or using any 3 rd Party contents via a link available on the Website. Should user decide to click on the links to visit such 3 rd party content, user do so on its own decision. User usage of such 3 rd party content is subject to terms of use of respective 3 rd party content and TSC is not responsible for user’s use of any 3 rd party content. TSC do not extend the Agreement to any other websites. TSC do not make any warranty or give any security to the personal information disclosed by user to the other websites, even if such websites are linked to TSC’s website or they are using TSC website link. TSC does not endorse any 3 rd party content that user may be directed to from the website.

TSC’s Responsibilities: TSC will make available qualified HSPs to render Services after carrying out appropriate background and reference checks. It is hereby clarified that TSC’ obligation to carry out appropriate background and reference checks and to validate qualification of HSPs does not go beyond ensuring that the HSPs were registered with relevant state professional councils or central professional council at the time of engagement and had a certificate of good standing from the relevant professional council at the time engagement.

Service Levels: Subject to applicable law, TSC will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the services available to registered users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for:

planned downtime that will be communicated in advance to Registered Users;
any unavailability caused by circumstances beyond TSC’s reasonable control, including without limitation, cyber-attacks, acts of God, acts of government or regulatory authority, any mandate under applicable law, flood, fire, earthquakes, civil unrest, acts of terror, strikes or other labour problems, or internet service provider or/and web hosts failures or delays, denial of service attack, and/or Your acts or omissions, equipment, software or any other technology of Your, or any third party acting on Your behalf
When such Service is rendered under a time-schedule, in which case, the obligation of TSC under this clause shall be limited to making available such Service during the time-schedule. This obligation will also be subject to (2) and (3) above;
When the Registered User is outside the operational coverage of Service.

TSC has no responsibility towards Non-registered User for providing Services. For avoidance of doubt, it is hereby clarified that TSC’ responsibility towards Registered User will be limited to the provision of the Services as per the terms and conditions of the Agreement. If TSC suspects any illegal, wrongful or fraudulent activity on the Website by any User, notwithstanding any other rights TSC may have against such User, TSC reserves the right to inform the relevant government or law enforcement authorities. TSC will cooperate in all investigative procedures or requests for access / information initiated by any such government or law enforcement authorities. TSC reserves the right to add new functionality, remove existing functionality, and modify existing functionality to its Services as and when it deems fit, and make any such changes available in newer versions of Website at its discretion.

All Users of its Services will be duly notified upon release of such newer versions and TSC reserves the right to automatically upgrade all Users to the latest version of its Services as and when it deems fit. The Website and Services may be subject to certain limitations, such as, limits on storage space, limit on bandwidth, unexpected downtime, unavailability of HSPs due to unforeseen circumstances, etc.

TSC reserves the right to schedule/reschedule/cancel appointments and swap HSPs at any time without prior intimation.

TSC reserves the right to refuse Service at any time without providing any reasons. The terms applicable to refund and cancellation are specified below.

Legal Compliances: TSC will strictly adhere to and adopt all reasonable measures to ensure compliance to all central and state government regulations and directives as applicable from time-to-time.

Data Recording, Storage, Encryption & Usage:The information stored on the Website may be entered by user or by HSP in the course of services provided by TSC.

All video-consultations / IM chat consultations / audios / videos / transcripts / prescriptions / email and hard copy correspondences between Users and HSP Acquired Users who are patients, and HSPs engaged by TSC shall be recorded, saved and stored for record purposes and in the event such records are required to be produced as evidence on the direction of a court of law. TSC may review this data from time to time for quality evaluation purposes. However, under normal circumstances, TSC will not access any information that identifies the user and shall either omit, mask or anonymize user’s personal information at the time of quality evaluation.

It is hereby clarified that TSC does not have the obligation to pre-screen or monitor user’s content at any time. However, TSC may elect to monitor any user’s content and may modify or remove any user content from the Website if TSC determines in its sole discretion that such content is in violation of this Agreement or any applicable law and best practices. Where TSC removes any user content from the Website, TSC will make reasonable efforts to inform the Registered User who had posted such content.

All user content shall be recorded, saved and stored electronically on a secure cloud database/server managed by the cloud service provider/storage service provider. TSC shall take best efforts to ensure that the cloud service provider/storage service provider uses appropriate levels of encryptions to protect data and takes all necessary precautions. TSC will however not be responsible for any cyber data theft from its Website or the cloud service provider’s/ storage service provider’s databases.

TSC shall maintain a detailed transaction & purchase history of users online.

TSC reserves the right to permanently delete user Content in case the user does not avail a service for a period of three years.

User’s Responsibilities:
User’s use of this Website shall be subjected to the following terms and conditions:

User will observe and comply with the terms and conditions of the Agreement in letter and spirit;
User will provide full and accurate information about user’s health, medical history and personal care needs;
User will strictly adhere to the advice and instructions given by HSPs from time to time;
User will not delete or modify any content of the Website including but not limited to, legal notices, disclaimers or proprietary notices such as copyright or trademark symbols, logos, that user do not own or have express permission to modify;
User will not decipher, decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the TSC content;
User will not use any engine, software, tool, agent or other device or mechanism (such as spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents) to navigate or search the Website;
User will not remove any copyright, trademark registration, or other proprietary notices from the Website. User further agree not to access or use this Website in any manner that may be harmful to the operation of this Website or its content;
User will not frame or hotlink any TSC Content;
User will not use the Website and / or Services in any way that is unlawful, or harms TSC or any other person or entity, as determined in the TSC's sole discretion.
User will not engage in any form of antisocial, disrupting, or destructive acts, including “flaming”, “spamming”, “flooding”, “trolling”, “phishing” and “griefing” as those terms are commonly understood and used on the Internet;
User will not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that:
1. belongs to another person and over which user does not have sufficient legal rights;
2. is grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libellous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever;
3. harm minors in any way;
4. infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights(se), violates any law for the time being in force;
5. deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of such messages or communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature;
6. impersonate another person;
7. contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;
8. threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation.

Without prejudice to the rights that VT may have under other provisions of the Agreement, where TSC has reasons to believe that a user has violated a term or condition of the Agreement, then TSC shall, in its sole discretion:

Suspend provision of Services; and/or
Suspend the account of user until there is enough information available with TSC to determine whether the user had violated a term or condition of this Agreement; and/or
Suspend or terminate the account of the user where TSC has determined that the user had violated a term or condition of this Agreement; and/or
Approach user to make good that loss or damage caused to TSC as a pre-condition to revoke the suspension; and/or
Take any such action against the user as it permissible under law; and/or
Raise invoice of Services availed by the user; and/or
Disable and/or delete such user content that is in contravention of the Agreement while preserving such information and associated records for the purpose of production to governmental authorities for investigation purposes.

Payment, Fees And Taxes
User agree to pay all service fees, consulting fees, reasonable out of pocket expenses and other fees applicable to its use of the Services. While TSC will strive to give user a fair estimate of fees in advance, the actual fee may be dependent on the type of Services that user purchase and may vary based on the number or duration of the Services subscribed to.

User are solely responsible for payment of all taxes, legal compliances, statutory registrations and reporting. TSC is in no way responsible for any of the taxes except for its own income tax. The fees could be paid online through the facility made on the Website. 3 rd party support and services are required to process online fee payment. TSC is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to user during this process as these third parties are beyond the control of TSC.

An invoice for fees against Services received by user will be generated in due course/ in 48 hours and can be intimated to user on the Website and/or on user’s contact details upon their request. User may be requested to make the payment immediately or on a deferred basis, at the sole discretion of TSC. In case the fees against Services are not received within the requested timeframe, TSC reserves the right to stop provision of Services on immediate basis, permanently delete user’s account and all information stored against user’s account and, suspend or terminate the Agreement. User will be solely responsible for the consequences of non-payment for the fees within the requested timeframe and have no right of recovery in any form against TSC.

In order to process the payments, TSC might require details of user’s bank account, credit card number etc. Please check the privacy policy on how TSC uses the confidential information provided by the user.

TSC shall send an intimation of fee receipt through an email and/or user’s contact details within seven (7) working days of fee receipt.

Offers and promotions: TSC and HSP may occasionally promote their Services on the Website available for user to purchase. TSC try to encourage HSP to offer good quality Services and materials at competitive price but TSC have no control over them, TSC do not endorse the Services they offer, or give the user any assurance that they will be suitable for user’s needs. It is your responsibility to satisfy yourself in this regard and we have no liability in connection with the same. All promotions are for limited period and subject to special terms and conditions, which are in addition and not to the terms and condition stated herein.

For the avoidance of any doubt, it is hereby clarified that any reference of the term offer as appearing in the Agreement, shall be construed solely as an ‘invitation to offer for sale’ by any such HSP.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

Refund will be made if the cancellation is done 24 hours prior to appointment with a valid reason for the cancellation.
Any refund/cancellation post payment will be at the discretion of TSC and will be taken up on a case to case basis. For queries, you can write to us at cpambikaburman@gmail.com

Patient Emergencies:The Services are not a replacement for emergency services offered at hospitals and should not be accessed if the patient is in a critical condition. In Medical Emergency (defined hereunder), please contact emergency services and/or rush to the nearest hospital. “Medical Emergency” will include a serious and unexpected situation that may involve illness or injury and requiring immediate medical attention in the absence of which, possess an imminent threat/risk to life and can potentially lead to death in the absence of the medical attention. In such situation patient (adult and minor) may undergo through any or multiple of the following conditions:

development of chest pain;
sudden breathing difficulty;
inability to speak;
inability to move any of the body parts;
loss of consciousness;
sudden loss of vision and/or hearing;
not oriented to surrounding;
sudden abnormal behaviour;
sudden irritability;
extreme lethargy;
extreme discomfort;
sudden worsening of any pre-existing medical conditions;
sudden development of severe pain.

Representation and Warranties:
By using this website, user hereby represent and warrant that:

User is 18 years of age or older and that user’s use of the website shall not violate any applicable law or regulation;
Where a minor may access or use the website or Service, user will ensure that such access or use happens through user’s account and under user’s personal supervision. Further, user accept to be accountable and liable for the activity of the minor on the website, including in respect of the Services availed on the website;
All registration information which user submit is truthful and accurate and that user agree to maintain the accuracy of such information;
User as a Registered user will use the website solely for its personal and non-commercial use. Any use of this website or its content other than for personal purposes is strictly prohibited.

GOVERNING LAW
T his Agreement shall be governed by the Laws of India, and the Courts of Gurugram, Haryana shall have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to any dispute arising hereunder.