A non-public hospital in Thailand has been fined over ₹32 lakh for negligence. The penalty was slapped after confidential medical information had been discovered used as street-food wrappers.
An influencer named Physician Lab Panda noticed the papers getting used to wrap crispy crepes, regionally referred to as khanom Tokyo. The paperwork confirmed private well being particulars. Information of 1 affected person with hepatitis B had been additionally uncovered.
The social media influencer posted footage on-line. The submit, made in Could 2024, shortly went viral with over 33,000 reactions and 1,700 feedback, in response to the South China Morning Publish. The hospital’s identify has not been made public up to now.
On August 1, Thailand’s Private Information Safety Committee fined the hospital 1.21 million baht (greater than ₹32 lakh) for leaking over 1,000 non-public medical recordsdata. Officers mentioned the hospital had employed a small household enterprise to destroy paperwork however failed to watch the method.
As an alternative of destroying them, the contractor stored the recordsdata at dwelling and didn’t inform the hospital after the leak. This broke Thailand’s knowledge safety legislation, which says hospitals should defend affected person info.
The contractor was additionally fined 16,940 baht (about ₹49,000). This was one in all six instances the PDPC has dealt with. The legislation got here into full impact in 2022.
“The hepatitis B virus is unlikely to be transmitted by means of paper. Nonetheless, we’re frightened that the paper has handed by means of who is aware of what number of fingers, and the toxins contaminated with the printing ink,” SCMP quoted one in all them as saying.
One other commented, “Consumers ought to boycott retailers that use recycled luggage like this. Distributors need to lower prices though they know it’s not protected. The medical paperwork needs to be shredded as an alternative of being bought.”
“Extra significance needs to be given to the non-public rights of sufferers. The hospital needs to be sued and its licence revoked,” got here from one other.
Affected person knowledge privateness: Are your non-public medical information protected?
In June, two massive hospitals in North Delhi had been hit by a cyberattack. Sant Parmanand and NKS Tremendous Speciality had been the victims.
At first, it regarded like a technical situation. However, later each hospitals confirmed it had been a hacking try. Delicate knowledge like affected person information and billing data had been accessed.
India’s affected person knowledge privateness is protected by the Digital Private Information Safety (DPDP) Act, 2023. It requires hospitals and clinics to take permission earlier than amassing or utilizing a affected person’s well being knowledge.
The Act says knowledge should be used just for authorized and clear functions. It should be saved safely utilizing instruments like passwords and encryption. Sufferers have the fitting to see, change or delete their knowledge.
If any rule is damaged, heavy fines will be charged. Hospitals could also be fined as a lot as ₹250 crore for “failure to take safety measures to forestall knowledge breaches”, as per Indian legislation.
