As part of my internship at DoctPro, I was given a research task to understand what guidelines, regulations, protocols, and publishing requirements need to be considered before releasing a healthcare-focused professional networking application.
I initially thought publishing an application was mainly about preparing the final build and submitting it to Google Play or the App Store.
It turns out there is quite a bit more paperwork hiding behind that innocent-looking Publish button.
This article summarizes the research I carried out, focusing on the legal, privacy, medical, security, moderation, and app-store requirements that should be reviewed before publishing an application like DoctPro.
Disclaimer: This is an internship research document, not legal advice. Final compliance decisions should be reviewed by the company's legal, privacy, medical/compliance, and security teams.
1. Understanding DoctPro
DoctPro is positioned as a professional networking platform focused mainly on the healthcare sector.
The platform is intended around areas such as:
- Healthcare professional networking
- Professional profiles
- Jobs and recruitment
- Healthcare-related content
- Hospital and healthcare organisation promotion
- Professional communication
- Healthcare industry networking
Because the application is focused on healthcare professionals, it cannot be treated exactly like a general social-networking platform.
The application may deal with professional credentials, registration information, employment information, uploaded documents, and potentially health or patient-related information.
That makes privacy, professional verification, patient confidentiality, medical content moderation, cybersecurity, and healthcare-specific platform policies particularly important.
Before applying every possible healthcare regulation, the company should first confirm what DoctPro actually does.
If DoctPro is primarily a:
- Professional networking platform
- Recruitment platform
- Content-sharing platform
- Professional communication platform
then the main focus is platform, privacy, professional conduct, and content compliance.
If it also provides:
- Doctor-patient consultation
- Diagnosis
- Treatment recommendations
- Prescriptions
- Teleconsultation
then additional telemedicine and clinical requirements need to be considered.
2. Main Compliance Areas
The main areas I identified during the research are:
| Area | What needs to be checked |
|---|---|
| Data protection | DPDP Act and Rules, privacy notice, consent where applicable, deletion and retention |
| Professional verification | Verification of healthcare qualifications and registrations |
| Medical content | Accuracy, misinformation and patient confidentiality |
| User safety | Reporting, moderation, abuse and impersonation |
| Recruitment | Employer verification and fake-job prevention |
| Cybersecurity | Security controls, logging and incident response |
| Google Play | Health declaration, Data Safety, privacy policy and account deletion |
| Apple App Store | Privacy disclosures, account deletion and health-related policies |
| Telemedicine | Additional requirements if clinical services are offered |
3. Privacy and Personal Data
One of the first things that should be reviewed is the personal data handled by the application.
Potential data categories can include:
- Name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Professional information
- Medical registration information
- Qualifications
- Institution details
- Profile photographs
- Uploaded documents
- Job applications
- Messages
- Device information
- Logs
- Potential patient or health information
For each type of data, the company should know:
- Why it is collected
- Who can access it
- Whether it is shared
- How long it is retained
- When it can be deleted
- What user rights apply
DoctPro should have a clear Privacy Policy that explains:
- What information is collected
- Why it is collected
- How it is used
- Whether it is shared with third parties
- How long it is retained
- How users can exercise applicable rights
- How users can raise complaints
- How users can request deletion where applicable
The Privacy Policy should also be accessible from inside the application.
The platform should collect only information that is actually required.
For example, if a registration number is collected for professional verification, the purpose should be clearly defined.
The application should not collect additional personal information simply because it might be useful later.
4. Professional Verification
Since DoctPro is designed for healthcare professionals, professional verification is one of the most important controls.
The application should clearly distinguish between different user categories, such as:
- Doctors / RMPs
- Medical students
- Nurses
- Allied healthcare professionals
- Hospitals
- Clinics
- Recruiters
- Healthcare organisations
A basic verification process could be:
text
User Registration
↓
Professional Information Submitted
↓
Credential / Registration Verification
↓
Verification Result
↓
Verified / Pending / Rejected
↓
Profile Published
The company should also maintain a process for:
- Fake credentials
- Expired registrations
- Impersonation
- Fraudulent organisations
- Incorrect professional claims
A user entering "Dr." in a profile field should obviously not be enough to establish that they are actually a registered medical professional.
5. Medical Content Guidelines
Healthcare professionals may publish medical or professional information through the platform.
Therefore, DoctPro should have a separate Medical Content Policy.
Content should be:
- Factual
- Responsible
- Professional
- Evidence-based where appropriate
- Not misleading
Content that should receive additional review includes:
- Guaranteed cure claims
- Guaranteed treatment results
- Unsupported medical claims
- Misleading before/after claims
- Dangerous medical misinformation
- False professional claims
- Unverified treatment recommendations
The NMC's professional-conduct regulations contain specific provisions relating to professional behaviour on social media and communication of medical information.
This makes medical-content moderation an important part of the platform's overall compliance process.
6. Patient Confidentiality
This is especially important for a healthcare-focused platform.
Users should not publicly share identifiable patient information.
Examples include:
- Patient names
- Phone numbers
- Addresses
- Medical record numbers
- Identifiable photographs
- Reports containing identifying information
- Prescriptions containing personal information
- Screenshots of private medical conversations
- Case descriptions that could identify a patient
Uploaded images and documents should also be reviewed because sensitive information can easily appear inside a photograph or PDF.
The NMC's professional-conduct regulations specifically address patient confidentiality and the publication of patient photographs/scans on social media.
So a general Privacy Policy is not enough. DoctPro should have a specific patient confidentiality process.
7. Community Guidelines and User Safety
Since DoctPro has characteristics of a professional social network, user-generated content needs moderation.
Community Guidelines should cover:
- Harassment
- Abuse
- Spam
- Scams
- Impersonation
- Fake jobs
- Privacy violations
- Copyright infringement
- Malicious links
- Medical misinformation
- Fraudulent professional claims
Users should have an easy way to report:
- Profiles
- Posts
- Comments
- Messages
- Job listings
A basic moderation flow could be:
User Report
↓
Issue Classification
↓
Review
↓
Action
↓
Record Decision
↓
Escalation if Required
Possible actions include:
- Warning
- Content removal
- Temporary restriction
- Account suspension
- Permanent termination
8. Jobs, Hospitals and Recruiters
Because DoctPro also focuses on healthcare recruitment, job-posting safety should be considered.
The platform should ideally verify organisations before allowing significant recruitment activity.
Job listings should contain:
- Employer identity
- Accurate job description
- Appropriate contact information
- Location where applicable
- Relevant qualification requirements
Users should also have a way to report:
- Fake jobs
- Recruitment scams
- Suspicious employers
- Requests for inappropriate payments or personal information
Applicant information such as CVs and contact details should only be accessible to authorised users.
9. Recommended Operational Protocols
The most useful part of the research, in my view, is turning the guidelines into actual procedures.
A policy tells people what should happen.
A protocol explains what to do when it actually happens.
A. Professional Verification Protocol
User submits credentials
↓
Identity and professional details reviewed
↓
Registration/qualification checked
↓
Verification decision
↓
Verified badge OR Pending/Rejected
↓
Verification record stored securely
Important checks:
- Identity
- Qualification
- Registration
- Institution
- Registration status
- Expiry/update status where applicable
Suspicious or inconsistent information should be escalated.
B. Medical Content Review Protocol
User publishes content
↓
Basic automated checks
↓
User reports / risk flag
↓
Human review where required
↓
Medical + privacy + policy check
↓
Keep / Restrict / Remove
↓
Escalate serious cases
Reviewers should consider:
- Is the information misleading?
- Does it expose patient information?
- Does it make unsupported medical claims?
- Does it violate professional conduct rules?
- Is the content potentially harmful?
C. Patient Privacy Protocol
If a report involves patient information:
- Treat it as a high-priority privacy issue.
- Restrict or remove exposed information as appropriate.
- Record the incident securely.
- Escalate it to the privacy/security team.
- Assess whether a reportable data incident has occurred.
- Complete any required regulatory or internal response.
D. User Complaint and Grievance Protocol
A simple process can be:
Complaint received
↓
Reference/case created
↓
Complaint category identified
↓
Assigned to responsible team
↓
Investigation
↓
Action
↓
User informed according to policy
↓
Case closed
Categories can include:
- Privacy
- Medical misinformation
- Impersonation
- Harassment
- Fake jobs
- Fraud
- Copyright
- Account issues
E. Security Incident Protocol
A security incident process should include:
- Detect the incident
- Record the incident
- Contain the affected system/account
- Assess what happened
- Identify affected data
- Inform the appropriate internal teams
- Determine whether external/regulatory reporting is required
- Recover the system
- Document corrective actions
CERT-In requirements should also be reviewed based on the company's exact infrastructure and legal applicability.
F. Application Release Protocol
Before submitting a new release:
Release Candidate
↓
Legal / Privacy Review
↓
Medical / Compliance Review
↓
Security Review
↓
Store Metadata Review
↓
Functional Testing
↓
Privacy & Deletion Testing
↓
Final Approval
↓
Store Submission
↓
Post-Release Monitoring
This is much safer than treating store submission as the final step.
10. Google Play Publishing Process
Step 1: Developer Account
The company needs an authorised Google Play developer account.
The following should be confirmed:
- Company/developer identity
- Application name
- Package/application ID
- Logo
- Support email
- Website
- Support information
Step 2: Store Listing
Prepare:
- App name
- Short description
- Full description
- Screenshots
- App icon
- Category
- Content rating
- Target audience information
The store listing should accurately represent the application.
Medical claims should not be exaggerated or unsupported.
Step 3: Privacy Policy
Google Play requires appropriate privacy disclosures.
DoctPro should have:
- Public Privacy Policy URL
- Privacy Policy accessible inside the application
- Accurate description of data collection and use
Step 4: Data Safety
The Google Play Data Safety section should match the actual application.
The team should review:
- Data collected
- Data shared
- Purpose
- Security practices
- Third-party SDKs
The important point is that the Data Safety form should describe the real production data flow, not what the team wishes the application did.
Step 5: Account Deletion
If users can create accounts, account deletion requirements need to be implemented and tested.
The deletion process should be easy to find and should actually delete the relevant account/data according to the company's retention and legal requirements.
Step 6: Health Apps Declaration
Because DoctPro is healthcare-focused, the Google Play Health Apps declaration should be reviewed and completed accurately.
If clinical functionality is introduced later, the health/medical policy requirements should be reviewed again.
Step 7: Final Submission
Before submission:
- Test the release build
- Review permissions
- Remove unnecessary permissions
- Check privacy links
- Check Data Safety information
- Check store screenshots
- Check descriptions
- Provide reviewer access if login is required
11. Apple App Store Publishing Process
For iOS, the team should prepare:
- Apple Developer account
- Correct legal entity information
- App Store Connect metadata
- App description
- Screenshots
- App icon
- Age rating
- Support information
- Privacy Policy
- Privacy/data collection disclosures
- Account deletion
- App Review notes
If important functionality requires login, App Review should receive the information necessary to test the application.
Health and medical data also require additional attention under Apple's policies.
12. Cybersecurity Requirements
Before release, security should be reviewed across:
- Authentication
- Authorisation
- Role-based access
- API security
- Database security
- File uploads
- Admin panels
- Cloud storage
- Logging
- Monitoring
- Backups
- Recovery
- Incident response
Professional verification documents and any patient/health information should receive additional protection.
CERT-In requirements should also be assessed for applicable logging, incident reporting and security obligations.
13. Documents and Policies to Prepare
The company should consider maintaining separate documents for:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use
- Community Guidelines
- Professional Verification Policy
- Medical Content Policy
- Patient Confidentiality Rules
- Healthcare Advertising Policy
- Sponsored Content Policy
- Job Posting Policy
- Employer Verification Policy
- Content Moderation SOP
- Grievance Redressal SOP
- Data Retention Policy
- Data Deletion SOP
- Security Incident Response SOP
- Copyright/IP Policy
- Telemedicine Policy, if clinical services are provided
14. Final Pre-Publishing Checklist
Before publishing DoctPro:
- [ ] Developer accounts are ready
- [ ] Legal entity information is correct
- [ ] Privacy Policy is published
- [ ] Terms of Use are published
- [ ] Community Guidelines are available
- [ ] Professional verification is tested
- [ ] Medical content rules are approved
- [ ] Patient confidentiality rules are approved
- [ ] Reporting and moderation work
- [ ] Fake-job reporting works
- [ ] Impersonation reporting works
- [ ] Account deletion works
- [ ] Google Play Data Safety information is accurate
- [ ] Google Health Apps declaration is completed where applicable
- [ ] Apple privacy information is accurate
- [ ] Permissions have been reviewed
- [ ] Security review is complete
- [ ] Incident-response process exists
- [ ] Store screenshots match the current application
- [ ] Store descriptions accurately describe the product
- [ ] Required legal/medical approvals are complete
- [ ] Final release testing is complete
15. Recommended Order of Work
I would recommend the company follow this order:
1. Confirm product scope
Determine exactly what DoctPro does and whether clinical/telemedicine functionality exists.
2. Complete legal and privacy review
Prepare the data inventory, Privacy Policy, Terms, notice/consent, retention and deletion processes.
3. Complete medical compliance review
Review professional verification, medical content, patient confidentiality and advertising.
4. Set up trust and safety
Implement reporting, moderation, impersonation and fake-job procedures.
5. Complete security review
Review access control, data protection, logging, backups and incident response.
6. Prepare app stores
Complete Google Play and Apple App Store metadata and declarations.
7. Test everything
Test normal user flows as well as deletion, reporting, privacy and security scenarios.
8. Final approval
Obtain the required product, legal/privacy, medical/compliance and security sign-offs before submission.
16. Key Findings from the Research
The main points I would highlight to the DoctPro team are:
- Professional verification should be treated as a core control, not just a profile feature.
- Patient confidentiality needs its own procedure, rather than relying only on a general Privacy Policy.
- Medical content needs dedicated moderation rules.
- Google Play and Apple App Store declarations must match the application's actual data flows.
- Account deletion should be tested rather than simply documented.
- Fake jobs and professional impersonation are important risks for a healthcare recruitment/networking platform.
- Telemedicine requirements should only be applied if DoctPro actually provides clinical services.
- Publishing the app is not the end of compliance. Monitoring and periodic review are required after launch as well.
17. Official References
- DoctPro
- MeitY - Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025
- NMC - Registered Medical Practitioner Professional Conduct Regulations, 2023
- Google Play - Health Content and Services
- Google Play - User Data Policy
- Google Play - Account Deletion
- Apple - App Review Guidelines
- CERT-In - Directions under Section 70B
Conclusion
This research helped me understand that publishing a healthcare-focused application is not simply a matter of uploading an APK or IPA to an app store.
There are several layers involved:
Product scope → Legal & Privacy → Medical Compliance → Trust & Safety → Security → Store Requirements → Testing → Approval → Post-launch Monitoring
For DoctPro, the most important part is making sure that the application's actual behaviour, internal policies, privacy documentation, medical guidelines and app-store declarations all stay consistent with each other.
AI assistance disclosure: This article was prepared with AI assistance as part of my internship research. I reviewed and organised the information and used the official sources listed above for the regulatory and platform references.
Top comments (0)