Every specialty has a home. Every home has its keepers.
MedSocio communities are where cases are discussed, questions are answered and colleagues become friends. They stay valuable because they are run by the people who know them best: specialists who moderate their own field, and the group admins and medical associations who bring their members with them. Here is how it all works, and how you can be part of it.
Your specialty, and your people.
Every member belongs to the official community of their specialty. Alongside these, members can bring the groups they already belong to: their batch, their department, their medical association or their study circle.
Specialty communities
60+ communities, one for every specialty, created by MedSocio and moderated by experienced specialists from that field.
- You’re added to your specialty’s community when you’re verified
- Join any other specialty community to learn and ask questions
- Case discussions, guidelines, journal digests and specialty events
- Moderated by verified specialists, supported by MedSocio’s Trust & Safety team
Member-led communities
Created by members who bring an existing community of 100 or more active doctors or medical students: a WhatsApp or Telegram group, or a registered medical association or professional body. The person or association that brings it becomes its owner.
- Your group’s own name, description, cover and rules
- Open, approval-only or invitation-only membership
- You appoint your own admins and moderators
- Every member is still verified, and MedSocio’s guidelines still apply
Clear roles. Shared responsibility.
Everyone has a part in keeping a community healthy. Each role comes with a little more responsibility and a few more tools.
Member
Posts, discusses, helps colleagues and reports anything that breaks the guidelines.
Community champion
Residents and active members who welcome newcomers and tag discussions. No removal powers.
Moderator
Experienced specialists who keep discussions safe, accurate and kind.
Lead moderator
Senior specialists who guide the moderator team and handle difficult decisions.
Owner and admins
The person who brings a group, and the admins they appoint, run their own community.
| What they can do | Member | Champion | Moderator | Lead moderator | Owner MEMBER-LED ONLY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read, post, reply and react | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Report content | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Welcome new members and tag topics | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pin posts and curate resources | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hide posts and edit out patient identifiers | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mute a member in the community (up to 7 days) | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Remove a member from the community | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit community rules and description | — | — | — | Propose | ✓ |
| Appoint and remove moderators | — | — | — | Recommend | ✓ |
| Suspend an account from MedSocio | — | — | — | — | — |
| See private messages | — | — | — | — | — |
Only MedSocio’s Trust & Safety team can suspend accounts from the platform. No one, including MedSocio staff, reads private messages unless a member reports them.
Who can become a moderator?
Moderators shape what thousands of colleagues learn from every day. So we look for three things: real expertise in the specialty, a track record of trust, and the time and temperament to care for a community.
Fully verified
Your three-step verification is complete, and your medical registration is current and in good standing.
RequiredA specialist in that field
A postgraduate qualification in the specialty (MD, MS, DNB, DM, MCh or an equivalent recognised degree), and you are practising or teaching in it.
RequiredExperience
At least 3 years of practice after your postgraduate qualification. Lead moderators: 10 years, or a faculty role of Associate Professor or above.
RequiredA clean record
No upheld breaches of MedSocio’s guidelines, and no current disciplinary action by any medical council (by self-declaration).
RequiredActive and constructive
Active on MedSocio for at least 60 days, with helpful contributions to your specialty community. This applies once the founding moderators are in place.
Required after launchTime to give
About 2 to 3 hours a week, and the ability to respond to escalated reports within 24 hours.
RequiredWe also look for teaching or mentoring experience, a calm way of handling disagreement, and diversity across regions, practice settings and genders, so every team reflects its specialty.
Three ways to give back.
Every specialty community has a small team, sized to its membership: at least three moderators, and about one for every 1,000 members.
Founding moderators
- The first team for each specialty, selected before launch
- Help write each community’s welcome, pinned guidelines and first discussions
- Recognised permanently as founding moderators
Moderators
- Review reports and keep discussions on track
- Hide unsafe posts and edit out patient identifiers
- Welcome and guide new members
Lead moderators
- Lead the team and decide difficult cases
- Review first-level appeals
- Work with MedSocio on specialty events and resources
A careful process, for a role built on trust.
- ApplyTell us your specialty, experience and why you’d like to moderate.
- Eligibility checkWe confirm your verification, qualification and experience.
- Peer referencesTwo colleagues in your specialty vouch for you.
- ConversationA short call with our community team about how you’d handle real situations.
- TrainingPatient privacy, legal timelines, de-escalation and medical misinformation.
- 90-day startA supported first term, then a full one-year term, renewable.
Recognition for real service.
Shown on your profile and posts in your community.
A record of your contribution, for your portfolio.
Premium at no cost while you moderate, once it launches.
Early access to features and a direct line to our product team.
Lead your specialty’s community.
We’re inviting specialists to become founding moderators of their specialty community. If you meet the criteria above, we’d be honoured to hear from you.
Your people deserve more than a chat.
Doctors already gather in thousands of places: WhatsApp and Telegram groups, national specialty societies, state and city associations, and professional bodies. Each holds something valuable, but it is scattered across chat apps, email lists, websites and once-a-year conferences. If you run one, bring it to MedSocio, keep it as your own, and give your members one home.
WhatsApp and Telegram groups
Members’ phone numbers are often visible to hundreds of people they’ve never met.
One forwarded link, and a stranger, a salesperson or a patient is inside.
A valuable case disappears under forwards and greetings within the hour.
Clinical photos end up in hundreds of personal galleries.
Last year’s brilliant discussion is impossible to find again.
One admin carries the whole group, with almost no tools to help.
Medical associations and professional bodies
Between annual conferences, most members barely hear from the association, or from each other.
Circulars by email, updates on WhatsApp, documents on a website, and real discussion nowhere.
CME dates, guideline updates and election notices are lost in crowded inboxes and forwards.
Spreadsheets of names and numbers, with no easy way to see who is still practising or engaged.
Residents and early-career doctors rarely find a way in, or a voice, until years later.
When office bearers change, contacts, files and momentum often leave with them.
Same people. One far better home.
| Chat groups and association channels | MedSocio community | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can join | Anyone with a link, or a member list no one re-checks | Only verified doctors and medical students |
| Your phone number | Often visible to every member | Never shown to anyone |
| Where it all lives | Chats, email lists, a website and the annual conference | One community home |
| Group size | Capped (1,024 on WhatsApp) | No cap |
| Finding an old case | Scroll for hours | Search by topic, tag or specialty |
| Case discussions | Lost between forwards and greetings | Structured threads that stay together |
| Circulars, CMEs and events | Buried in inboxes and forwards | Pinned notices and event pages |
| Patient images | Saved to everyone’s phone gallery | Stay on the platform, with privacy safeguards |
| Moderation | One tired admin | Owner, admins and MedSocio Trust & Safety |
| Members’ identities | Display names anyone can set | Real names with the verified badge |
| Resources | Files buried in chats and old emails | Pinned guidelines and a shared library |
| When leaders change | Contacts and files leave with them | Admins change; the community stays |
| Professional growth | None | Mentorship, test prep, tools and careers alongside |
Check in 30 seconds.
Groups and associations with at least 100 active doctors or medical students can become a member-led community, with you as its owner.
Here is what happens next:
- Register and we confirm within 3 working days
- Your community is set up with your name and rules
- Reach 100 verified members within 60 days
From scattered to together in a week.
- ApplyShare your community’s name, where it meets today, its size, purpose and admins.
- We confirmWe check that you’re an admin or authorised office bearer, and that it fits, within 3 working days.
- Set-upYour community is created with your name, cover, description and rules.
- InviteShare your personal invite link, QR code and our ready-made message.
- Members joinEach member signs up and is verified, free of cost.
- EstablishedReach 100 verified members within 60 days to become a fully established community.
As the owner, you can
- Name your community and set its description, cover and house rules
- Choose open, approval-only or invitation-only membership
- Appoint up to 10 admins and moderators
- Pin posts, run polls, host events and build a resource library
- See your community’s growth and activity insights
- Get a dedicated onboarding call for groups over 500 members
As the owner, you agree to
- Keep MedSocio’s Community Guidelines, which apply in every community
- Never use the community to advertise, sell or solicit patients
- Respect members’ privacy: member contact details can’t be exported
- Stay active, or hand over ownership to an admin if you step back
- Accept that MedSocio’s Trust & Safety team has the final say on safety
Your association, active all year round.
National specialty societies, state and city associations, and other registered bodies of doctors can bring their members to MedSocio as a member-led community.
- A Registered association label on your community once your documents are checked
- Office bearers as admins, with a smooth handover when they change
- Circulars, CMEs, conferences and election notices as pinned posts and events
- Invite members by link, QR code or your usual email circular
- The community belongs to the association, not to one person
What we’ll ask for
- Proof of registration, such as your society, trust or company registration certificate
- A letter authorising you to act for the association, signed by its president or secretary
- At least 100 active doctor or medical student members
Every member still verifies individually, and MedSocio’s guidelines apply as in every community. Membership fees, voting and elections stay with your association: MedSocio doesn’t manage them, and communities can’t be used for sponsor promotion.
Ready-made message for your members
Copy it, add your invite link, and post it in your group or send it as a circular.
There's no need to close your group or mailing list straight away. Many admins keep them for announcements while members move across.
Bring your people home.
Run a WhatsApp or Telegram group, or a medical association, with 100 or more active doctors or medical students? Move it to MedSocio, keep it as your own, and lead it with better tools.
Six layers of care, from members to the law.
Most problems are solved with a quiet word. A few need firm action. Every layer has a clear role, and every serious decision can be reviewed.
One shared standard for every community: protect patients, respect every voice, share responsibly.
Any member can report a post, comment, message or profile in two taps, anonymously.
Prompts to remove patient identifiers before posting images, and filters that catch spam and promotion.
Specialists, owners and admins who review reports in their community and act within their powers.
MedSocio’s own team handles escalations, account suspensions, legal requests and the most serious cases.
Independent review of decisions, within the timelines set by Indian law.
The response fits the problem.
We start with the lightest step that solves the issue, and move up only when we must.
- Friendly reminderA private nudge
- Post edited or hiddenWith a chance to fix it
- Formal warningRecorded on the account
- Muted24 hours to 7 days
- Removed from communityBy lead moderator or owner
- Platform suspensionTrust & Safety only
- Permanent removalFor the most serious breaches
- Identifiable patient information
- Impersonation or fake credentials
- Sexual harassment
- Threats or hate speech
- Leaked examination papers
- Selling prescriptions or certificates
Power with limits.
Every moderator, owner and admin signs the moderator code before they begin.
Moderators always
- Act on the guidelines, never on personal opinion or rivalry
- Step aside from any case involving themselves, their institution or a colleague they know well
- Declare any conflict of interest, including links with pharmaceutical or device companies
- Keep reports and reporters confidential
- Explain their decisions and log every action
Moderators never
- Read members’ private messages
- Suspend anyone from MedSocio as a whole
- Use their role to promote themselves, a hospital or a product
- Remove posts simply because they disagree clinically
- Share anything they see in reports outside the moderation team
Every decision can be reviewed.
From the notice you receive, explain why you think the decision was wrong.
A different person from the one who made the decision reviews it.
MedSocio’s team takes a fresh look and gives a final platform decision.
If you’re still not satisfied, our grievance process applies, including appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee.
Each community publishes a summary of its moderation actions, and MedSocio will publish a transparency report every quarter.
About communities and moderation.
Can medical students moderate?
Students and residents can become community champions, who welcome members and organise discussions. Moderating a specialty community requires a postgraduate qualification in that specialty. Students can, however, own a member-led community they bring across, such as a batch or study group, provided it meets the 100 active members requirement.
Is moderating paid?
Moderating is voluntary. Moderators receive a moderator badge, a certificate of service, complimentary Premium once it launches, and early access to new features.
What counts as an active member of my WhatsApp group?
Someone who posted, replied or reacted at least once in the last 30 days. You can share a screenshot of the group’s member count and recent activity when you apply.
What happens if fewer than 100 members verify on MedSocio?
Your community starts as provisional. If 100 members join and are verified within 60 days, it becomes established. If not, we’ll work with you, and the community may continue as a discussion space inside the relevant specialty community.
Do I have to close my WhatsApp group?
No. Many admins keep the old group for announcements while members move across, then archive it once the community is active.
Can I export my members’ contact details?
No. To protect everyone’s privacy, members’ phone numbers and email addresses are never shared with owners, admins or moderators.
Can our medical association bring its members?
Yes. Registered associations and professional bodies of doctors, from national specialty societies to city chapters, can become a member-led community. An authorised office bearer applies with proof of registration and a letter of authorisation, and the community belongs to the association, so it passes smoothly to new office bearers.
Can a pharmaceutical company or hospital run a community?
No. Communities are for doctors and medical students, not for organisations to market to them. Doctors who work at a hospital can bring their department’s group, but it can’t be used for promotion. Medical associations are welcome because they are bodies of doctors, and the same rule applies: no sponsor promotion.
How long does a moderator serve?
One year, renewable, after a supported 90-day start. You can step down at any time, and every moderator’s activity is reviewed every quarter.
Great communities are kept, not just created.
Lead your specialty’s community, bring your group home, or simply join and take part. Every community on MedSocio is shaped by the medicos who care for it.