KarvoKarvo, POPIA and HPCSA Booklet 20
One page for the practice manager, the doctor and the attorney. Print it and keep it with your operator agreement. Updated November 2026.
What Karvo is
An automated front desk. It answers calls and WhatsApp messages, books, sends reminders and routes calls to people. It makes no clinical or legal decisions. Your practice or firm stays responsible for those.
What the assistant never does
- Give medical advice, a diagnosis or medication guidance.
- Give legal advice or an opinion on a matter.
- Read out results or discuss accounts.
- Pretend to be a person.
What every caller hears
At the start of each call: that they are speaking to the practice's automated assistant, and that the call is recorded. The first WhatsApp reply says the same.
Escalation to a person
- Emergencies: the caller is told to call 10177, and the call goes to your on-call person.
- Anything clinical, urgent or unclear goes to a person.
- A caller can ask for a person at any time.
POPIA
- You are the responsible party. Zavu (Pty) Ltd, which runs Karvo, is your operator under a written operator agreement (s21).
- Health information is special personal information (s26).
- Data is used only to run your front desk. No sale, no sharing between clients.
Where the data lives
[DATA-LOCATION]. The operator agreement names the provider and country before you sign. Where data is stored outside South Africa, the transfer relies on POPIA s72.
Deletion
Recordings, transcripts and messages are deleted on request, and all of your data within 30 days of the pilot or contract ending.
HPCSA Booklet 20
Booklet 20, the HPCSA's guidelines on the ethical use of AI, was published in December 2025. The practitioner remains accountable for every decision and AI tools must comply with POPIA. Karvo stays on the admin side: it books, reminds and routes, and the weekly report lists every call it handled, so the practice has a record of its use.
Sources: SAMJ 2026;116(5); Bowmans; BusinessTech, 27 Nov 2025.For attorneys: the LPC note
Courts have referred practitioners to the Legal Practice Council after papers cited cases invented by AI (Mavundla v MEC; Northbound Processing). Karvo does admin only: intake for new matters, consultation bookings, messages. Every output is for the attorney to check. A confidentiality agreement covering privileged information is signed with the firm.
Sources: ENSafrica, 30 Oct 2025; GoLegal.Questions: Information Officer [INFORMATION-OFFICER-NAME], [CONTACT-EMAIL], or WhatsApp. Full privacy policy.