This is the research
article of New Delhi based ICT law firm Perry4Law.
It is covering many crucial areas pertaining to use of information
and communication technology (ICT) for providing healthcare related
services in India. However, like any service, e-health services in
India depend upon compliance of certain Indian laws that is missing
as on date. Similar is the case regarding m-health
that is the upcoming field in this regard.
Information and communication technology (ICT) has
streamlined the way medical services and para medical services are
provided world over. E-health and telemedicine are examples of use of
ICT for medical purposes.
However, when technology is used for medical
purposes, it gives rise to medico legal and techno legal issues. In
United States, the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA),
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
(HITECH Act), etc are some of the laws that take care of medico legal
and techno legal issues of e-health and telemedicine.
On the contrary, we have no dedicated e-health and
telemedicine laws in India. Even essential attributes of these laws
like privacy
protection, data
protection (PDF), data security, cyber
security, confidentiality maintenance, etc are not
governed by much needed dedicated laws.
However, numerous statues carry individual
provisions that may be applicable to e-health and telemedicine
activities in India. For instance, the e-governance and e-commerce
related aspects of e-health and tele medicine may be governed by the
Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) that is the cyber
law of India. All electronic contraventions and violations
pertaining to e-health and tele medicine can be regulated b the IT
Act 2000.
Similarly, privacy
and data protection aspects (PDF) in cyberspace pertaining
to e-health are also governed by the IT Act 20000. Further, the
Supreme Court of India has interpreted Article 21 of Indian
Constitution as conferring a right to privacy upon all persons in
India. Even in some cases the Supreme Court of India has held that
patients have a right to privacy to protect their health related
information except where non disclosure of such information is
violating fundamental rights of others and is against public interest
and public policy.
Even data security and cyber security aspects have
been covered by the IT Act 2000 to some extent. The real problem is
that these provisions that protect privacy, data protection, data
security, etc are piecemeal efforts and they are not serving the
purposes as required.
We need to have dedicated e-health laws and
regulations in India that are presently missing. The sooner these
e-health laws and regulations are formulated in India the better it
would be for the larger interest of medical community and patients in
India.
