Business case

Illustrative, written for an assessment. This is my reading of the problem, not research, and it contains no figures from a real clinic.

The problem

Small private clinics in Kenya often book by phone call or WhatsApp message. Two people can be given the same slot, and patients forget or cannot easily cancel, so slots go unused. That is what I set out to fix.

Who it serves

• Patients, who want to see free times and book without a call.
• The front desk, who want one list instead of a chat history to reconcile.
• Doctors, who want a day that is not double booked.

What this demo proves

• Conflict-free booking: the database itself refuses a second booking for the same doctor and time.
• Email: an acknowledgement when you book, move or cancel, and a reminder the evening before (sent between 18:00 and 19:00 Nairobi time, at most 50 a day), through Resend.
• An admin view of the day for the front desk, behind a sign-in.

How it could grow

• More than one clinic on the same system.
• A slot length set per doctor.
• M-Pesa deposits to reduce no-shows.
• SMS reminders for patients who do not read email.

What it does not do, and the risks

• It is not a medical record system and gives no medical advice.
• It has no payments, insurance handling or video visits today.
• Real patient data would need a data residency and security review first. See data handling.
• I have not tested it with real clinic staff, so how well it fits their day is an assumption.

Why it is built this way

The design and the trade-offs are written up in the README, in section 3, system design and section 4, key decisions and trade-offs.