Government takes steps to safeguard confidential health data taken from National Health Mission

To safeguard confidential health data collected from people under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), the govt has proposed a framework and a group of minimum standards for data privacy protection to be followed across the board in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The NDHM was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of 74th Independence Day.

The National Health Authority (NHA), the central agency liable for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which has been mandated to style and roll out NDHM within the country, has released the draft ‘Health Data Management Policy’ within the property right.

The document has been put abreast of the official website of National Digital Health Mission seeking comments and feedback from the general public till September 3.
The draft policy mainly seeks to line out a framework for “secure processing of private and sensitive personal data of individuals” who are a neighbourhood of the national digital health ecosystem.

Data collected across the National Digital Health Ecosystem ( NDHE) are going to be stored in at the central level, the state or Union Territory level and at the clinic level, by adopting the principle of minimality at each point, consistent with the document.

The federated structure necessitates the event of a framework which will be utilised throughout the NDHE to safeguard the privacy of confidential health data that has been collected from individuals in India, it stated.

Indu Bhushan, the Chief military officer of NHA said, “The Draft Health Data Management Policy is that the maiden step in realizing NDHM’s guideline of ‘Security and Privacy by Design’ for the protection of individuals’ data privacy.

“It encompasses various aspects of health data like data privacy, consent management, data sharing and protection among others,” the officer said.

The provisions of this policy shall apply to the entities involved within the NDHM and people who are a neighbourhood of the NDHE, that has all entities and individuals who are issued an ID under this policy, healthcare professionals, governing bodies of the health ministry, the NHA, relevant professional bodies and regulators.

It would also apply to any healthcare provider who collects, stores and transmits health data in electronic form, insurers, charitable institutions, pharmaceuticals and every one individuals, teams, entities who collect or process personal or sensitive data of a person as a part of the NDHE.

Highlighting the importance of the policy and its potential impact, Bhushan said, “The government is functioning to make sure strong privacy of health data and thus , we are circulating the Draft Health Data Management Policy of NDHM to extend awareness on the importance of knowledge privacy and instil a privacy-oriented mindset among all stakeholders and participants of the ecosystem.”

“I anticipate to feedback, suggestions and inputs from experts and members of the overall public to assist us finalise the policy and make the implementation of the mission stronger and simpler .”