WhatsApp AI agent for TCM clinics: consultations booked, prices and preparation answered, treatment questions left to the physician
A TCM clinic's patients often prefer to write in Chinese, message in the evening, and ask which physician is in on which day. The physician is in consultation and the counter is dispensing. An AI agent answers schedules, prices and preparation in the patient's language and books the consultation, while anything about a condition waits for the physician.
Quick answer
Put a WhatsApp AI agent on your clinic's number with services, prices, each physician's schedule, preparation notes and location as knowledge. It replies in Chinese, English or Malay, books consultations with the chosen physician into real slots, sends reminders, and collects the patient's name and area of concern. It does not comment on symptoms, herbs, dosage or treatment. ReplyKit does this from $29 a month.
What the agent handles
Automate
- Services: consultation, acupuncture, cupping, tuina, herbal dispensing, with prices and durations.
- Which physician is available on which days, and their areas of practice as you describe them.
- Consultation booking per physician into real slots, with a reminder.
- Preparation: fasting, clothing, what to bring, first-visit forms.
- Location, parking, hours, insurance or panel information if any.
- Collecting name, preferred physician, area of concern and preferred time.
- Replies in Chinese, English or Malay, and voice notes transcribed.
Keep with a person
- Any question about a condition, symptoms, herbs, dosage, or whether a treatment suits someone.
- Herbal orders that need a prescription or a physician's judgement.
- Results and follow-up plans for current patients.
- Complaints.
Chinese-first without a Chinese-only knowledge base
Write the knowledge base once, in whichever language is easiest, and set Chinese as the primary language in Settings if most patients write in it. The agent answers each patient in their language and keeps physician names, service names and the address exactly as written. Formal Chinese for older patients and casual for younger ones can be set in the tone instructions. See the multilingual guide.
Setup for a clinic
- Use a dedicated number. ReplyKit connects your number through Meta's official WhatsApp Business Platform: keep the number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app and the agent works alongside it, or add a dedicated number. Personal WhatsApp numbers cannot be connected. Keep your long-standing number out of it; see Meta's messaging limits explained
- Upload the price list and write each physician's schedule and areas of practice as text.
- Add consultations as services per physician, with hours.
- Write the clinical boundary word for word; keep the automated-assistant disclosure on.
- Connect the number through Meta's sign-in and test in Chinese with a symptom question. It must book and not advise.
Frequently asked questions
Can the agent suggest herbs or treatments?
No. It books a consultation and says the physician will assess. Clinical advice is outside its instructions and against ReplyKit's terms.
Does it reply in Chinese?
Yes, and in English or Malay, from one knowledge base, keeping physician and service names exact.
Can it book with a specific physician?
Yes. Each physician has their own schedule and the agent offers that person's real slots.
Does it send reminders?
Yes, the day before every consultation it books.
How much does it cost?
From $29 a month for one number and 1,000 replies. 7-day free trial.
Book the consultation in the patient's language
Physician schedules, prices, preparation, connect your number through Meta's sign-in. 7-day free trial.
Sources and further reading
- ReplyKit Acceptable Use Policy · what we refuse to automate
- DataReportal, Digital 2025: Malaysia · WhatsApp is the most used messaging platform in Malaysia
- Cochrane Review, Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments (Gurol-Urganci et al., 2013) · reminder messages improve attendance compared with no reminder
- ReplyKit, Will WhatsApp ban my number for automation? · how Meta's messaging limits and quality rating work
ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp. This article is general guidance for clinic administration, not medical or regulatory advice.