AI receptionist vs hiring
Hire a second receptionist, or add an AI one?
When the phone rings out during OPD, the usual answer is another hire. This page puts that hire next to an AI receptionist on the things that decide it: cost, hours covered, languages and what each one cannot do.
Pluxo wrote this page. The salary is the figure we use across the site for a clinic receptionist in an Indian city; yours may differ, so put your own number in.
In short
- Keep your receptionist. Patients at the counter, billing and judgement calls need a person.
- Add an AI receptionist for the phone and WhatsApp when calls ring out during OPD, after hours or on Sundays, or in languages your desk does not speak.
| A second receptionist | Pluxo | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | About ₹18,000 salary, before leave cover and training | ₹2,999 plus GST, with 250 call minutes and unlimited WhatsApp |
| Hours | One shift, with breaks, leave and holidays | Day and night, Sundays and holidays included |
| Languages | The ones they speak, usually two or three | 11, switching when the caller does |
| After-hours calls | Unanswered unless someone stays late | Answered, booked, confirmed on WhatsApp |
| Booking | Into the diary or register by hand | Into each doctor's real slots and calendar |
| Reminders and recalls | When there is time | Automatic, on WhatsApp |
| Patients at the counter | Yes | No. It handles the phone and WhatsApp only |
| Judgement on unusual cases | Yes | Hands them to your team with the transcript |
| Time to start | Weeks to hire and train | Within 48 hours |
Pluxo's price is the live price list, excluding 18 percent GST. The receptionist salary is an estimate for an Indian city; replace it with what you pay.
The arithmetic
A second receptionist at about ₹18,000 a month covers one shift in one or two languages. Pluxo's Core plan is ₹2,999 a month plus GST and covers the phone and WhatsApp at every hour, in 11 languages. For most clinics the useful comparison is not one against the other but what the existing desk stops having to do: the forty calls about timings and fees, the reminders, the evening messages.
What an AI receptionist will not replace
- Greeting and seating patients at the counter, collecting fees in person, handling files.
- Judgement on an unusual request. Pluxo hands those to your team on WhatsApp with the conversation attached.
- Medical questions. It never gives advice, a diagnosis or a dose, and says the doctor will look at it.
What changes for the receptionist you have
They stop answering the same questions on the phone all day and stop chasing reminders. The calls that need a person still reach them, with the transcript, so they can act without asking the patient to start over. See how the AI receptionist works and the full price list.
Hear what your desk would stop doing
Call +91 93398 30614 and ask the AI receptionist for a slot in your patients' language. Then search your clinic for a free preview built from your real details.