Data Privacy and Medical Records

 In a world where artificial intelligence and machine learning have started to dominate every aspect of our online life, data, it's sharing, and issues related to it have become more pronounced. Big tech organizations, in this context, have started putting in more resources to counter the misuse of data being shared by its users on the platform. Even as the steps have started being taken by corporates, there is still a long way to go. 

While life online is fighting its own battle against this menace, the offline world is also facing its own share of challenges related to sharing of critical personal data. In a recent report by Mint, the medical world is becoming more involved in data sharing practices where the consent of the patient is not involved. It is important to note that the medical data of any individual is an extremely personal affair, and sharing it without consent does pose serious questions over our privacy law framework.

Data has always been a valuable resource when it comes to medical research and improving upon existing practices with past knowledge. As a result collection of a wide range of data has become a new trend to gain insights into the medical data from a large sample size. The increasing importance of AI, data analysis and data sharing of medical data highlights the importance of a regulatory mechanism in order to address the basic concerns of privacy.

In India, there are a number of reasons for sharing medical data without consent. The main problem is that most of the records that are stored by the majority of small to medium-sized hospitals are not in electronic form. This makes data sharing possible without being tracked. Another issue is the lack of data regulation regarding retaining and deleting data. 

While National Digital Health Mission suggests sharing of anonymized data, purely for research purposes, it is important the Personal Data Protection Bill with comprehensive provisions should be brought it. There is also a need to adapt to the technological advancements and its implications, thus a more comprehensive a relevant regulation mechanism should be put in place to tackle data privacy issues.

Source : The Mint