Self-booking on WhatsApp
WhatsApp appointment booking for doctors in India
Docna lets patients book your clinic from a WhatsApp chat. They scan your QR poster or tap your booking link, choose an in-clinic visit or an online video consultation, pick an open time and pay any fee you set by UPI, straight to your own UPI ID. Once the patient confirms payment, an online consultation gets its Google Meet link.
1-month free trial. Plans from ₹4,000 a month.
Clinic booking
Hi, I'd like to book an appointment [DN-7K4MPQ]10:02
Happy to help you book with the clinic. What name should I put the appointment under?10:02
Anita Rao10:03
How would you like to consult? Choose an in-clinic visit or an online video consultation.10:03
Online video consult10:03
Pick a date and time for your video consultation with the clinic. The fee is payable after you choose.10:03
Wed, 28 Oct at 6:30 PM10:04
UPI QR attached. Please send a screenshot or tap the confirmation button after successful payment.10:04
Online consultation with the clinic, Wed, 28 Oct at 6:30 PM. Reference: DOCNA-4F9K2T. This slot is held for you for the next 5 minutes.10:04
I have paid successfully!10:06
Hello Anita, your video consultation with the clinic is on 28 Oct 2026 at 6:30 PM. Tap the button below to join.10:06
How it works
How WhatsApp appointment booking works
Six steps from a scan to a confirmed booking, started and finished in the patient's WhatsApp. You set them up once, and after that a booking needs nothing from you.
- 01
The patient scans your QR or taps your link
Print the booking QR from your settings and put it at your reception desk, on your visiting card or in the clinic window. Scanning it opens WhatsApp with a message already typed, carrying your clinic's own booking code, so the patient only presses send. You can also copy the same link from your settings and share it anywhere.
- 02
Docna asks who the appointment is for
If nobody on that number is registered with your clinic yet, the patient is asked what name to book under. If someone is, a list of the patients on that number appears, with Someone else at the bottom, so a booking made from a shared family phone lands on the right person's record.
- 03
In-clinic visit or online consultation
A list offers an in-clinic visit and an online video consultation, with the fee shown on each one you charge for. If online consultations are switched off, or a setting they need such as the fee, UPI ID or Google account is missing, the patient is offered an in-clinic visit instead.
- 04
The patient picks a day, then a time
Days run from today through the next five, and each day lists only the times still free. An online consultation offers only the times you tapped on your availability board, and a same-day time has to be at least 30 minutes away.
- 05
The slot is held while the patient pays by UPI
Where there is a fee, the chosen time is held for five minutes. The patient receives a UPI QR with your UPI ID, the exact fee and a booking reference already filled in, followed by a message saying what the payment is for, when, how much, and the reference.
- 06
Paid, and the booking is made
The patient taps I have paid successfully! or sends the payment screenshot. An online consultation then gets a Google Meet on your calendar and the patient receives the joining link on WhatsApp. A paid in-clinic visit is confirmed with its date, time and reference.
Capabilities
What the WhatsApp booking flow handles for you
The parts of a booking that usually take a phone call and a receptionist are handled in the chat, built around how patients in India actually pay and book.
Payments go straight to your UPI ID
The payment QR is a UPI request to the UPI ID you enter, with the exact fee filled in and the name you choose shown in the patient's payment app. The patient pays from their own UPI app into your account. There is no payment gateway in between, and Docna never holds the money.
A reference on every paid booking
Every paid booking gets its own reference, such as DOCNA-4F9K2T, written into the UPI transaction note. It travels with the payment into your UPI app, which is how you match a payment to the booking it paid for.
No double booking on paid times
Two patients tapping the same paid slot a second apart cannot both hold it: the database refuses the second hold, and that patient is shown the times still available. Anything already booked, in the clinic or online, is left off the list.
Expired holds release the slot
If the patient has not confirmed payment within five minutes, the time is released for other patients and the patient is told, with a Pick another time button that resumes the same booking and a note to send the screenshot if they have already paid.
Late payments still reach a booking
Paying means leaving WhatsApp for a UPI app, so a payment sometimes lands just after the hold. A payment claimed within an hour of the lapse is booked automatically if that time has not started and is still free, and you are asked to check the money in your UPI app. A later claim, up to the time of the consultation, comes to you as an alert.
Family phones, without guessing
One phone often books for a whole family. A typed name is matched to a patient on that number only when it is exactly the same, ignoring case and spacing, never approximately. A name that matches nobody creates a new record, so a visit is never filed on a relative's chart.
Paid or free in-clinic visits
Set an in-clinic visit fee and your UPI ID, and patients who book a visit on WhatsApp pay it upfront to confirm, through the same hold and UPI QR as an online consultation. Leave it empty and the visit is booked free the moment the patient taps a time.
Patients can always stop
A patient can cancel at any point before the booking is made, and a time held for them is released immediately rather than staying blocked until the hold runs out.
In practice
How self-booking fits your clinic's day
You set it up once, on the online consultations settings page: your consultation fee, an optional in-clinic visit fee, your UPI ID and the name patients see in their payment app. Then tap the times you want to offer on an availability board, separate from your clinic hours, and choose how long each consultation lasts and the gap after it. A readiness panel at the top lists anything still missing, such as a fee, a UPI ID or a connected Google account.
Patients who are already messaging you do not need the poster. In a patient's WhatsApp chat inside Docna, one tap on the booking link button sends them your link. And when a patient asks Docna's WhatsApp assistant to book, the assistant starts the same booking right there in the chat, asking who it is for and whether they want an in-clinic visit or an online consultation.
Bookings land where you already look. The Bookings & payments tab on the meetings page puts anything that needs your attention first, then holds still awaiting payment with a countdown, then confirmed bookings. Each one says whether the patient booked it or you scheduled it, a payment screenshot opens from its booking, and the tab shows a count of new bookings you have not seen yet.
An in-clinic visit booked on WhatsApp is an ordinary appointment in your schedule, so it gets the same appointment-day reminder as any other when you have that reminder switched on. If you cancel a video consultation, it comes off your Google Calendar and the patient is told on WhatsApp unless you choose not to, and if a patient is running late you can push it back by 10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes.
Who it is for
Who WhatsApp appointment booking is for
Doctors who consult online
Teleconsultation practices that want the patient to choose a time and pay before the call, instead of chasing a transfer after it.
Clinics where the phone never stops
Front desks that spend the morning answering the same question about today's free slots and would rather patients book themselves.
Practices that want visits confirmed upfront
Clinics that would like a patient to commit to an in-clinic slot with a small payment, the way they already commit to a video call.
Doctors without a receptionist
Solo practitioners whose patients already reach them on WhatsApp, and who want those messages to end in a booking.
Pricing
Simple plans, priced in rupees
WhatsApp appointment booking is included in both plans, with unlimited online consultations on each. Sending a patient their joining link uses message credits, and Pro includes 1,500 every billing cycle while Enterprise includes 3,500. The free trial has Pro's unlimited online consultations and starts with 1,000 credits.
Every account starts with a 1-month free trial. Compare plans
Pro
₹4,000
per month, billed in INR
Enterprise
₹8,999
per month, billed in INR
FAQ
WhatsApp appointment booking: questions doctors ask
How do patients book an appointment with my clinic on WhatsApp?
They scan your booking QR or tap your booking link, which opens WhatsApp with a message already typed. Docna asks who the appointment is for, offers an in-clinic visit or an online video consultation, and shows the open days and times. Where you charge a fee, the patient pays by UPI, and once they confirm payment an online consultation gets its Google Meet link.
Does the patient's payment go through Docna?
No. The QR the patient scans is a UPI payment request to your own UPI ID, so the money goes from the patient's UPI app straight to your account and Docna never holds it. Each paid booking carries its own reference in the UPI note, which travels with the payment into your UPI app, so you can match every payment to its booking.
How does Docna know the patient has paid?
The booking is confirmed when the patient taps I have paid successfully! or sends their payment screenshot. The screenshot is kept with the booking, where you can open it, and the reference on the payment in your UPI app lets you match each payment to the booking it paid for.
What happens if the patient does not confirm payment within five minutes?
The held time is released for other patients, and the patient gets a message with a Pick another time button and a note to send the screenshot if they have already paid. A payment claimed within an hour of that is booked automatically if the time has not started and is still free, and you are asked to confirm the money in your UPI app.
Can two patients book the same time?
Not for a paid time. A paid booking holds its time in the database the moment the patient picks it, so a second patient tapping the same time is told it was just taken and shown the times still available. Times already booked, in the clinic or online, are left off the list.
What if a whole family uses one phone number?
Docna lists the patients registered with your clinic on that number and asks who the appointment is for, with Someone else for a family member who is new to the clinic. A typed name is reused only on an exact match, so a booking is never attached to the wrong family member's record.
Do I need Google Meet for online consultations?
Yes. Online consultations are offered only when your Google account is connected and a fee and UPI ID are set, and the readiness panel tells you what is missing. Until then patients are offered in-clinic visits. The Meet is created only once the patient confirms payment, so a self-booked consultation reaches your calendar only after that.
How much does WhatsApp appointment booking cost?
It is included in every Docna plan, with unlimited online consultations. Pro is ₹4,000 a month and Enterprise is ₹8,999 a month, and every new account starts with a 1-month free trial with Pro's limits.
Let patients book themselves on WhatsApp
Start a 1-month free trial, print your booking QR, and let patients pick a time on WhatsApp and pay by UPI straight to you.