Confidential patient data used as street-food wrappers; hospital fined ₹32 lakh: Are your private medical records safe?
An influencer named Doctor Lab Panda spotted the papers being used to wrap crispy crepes, locally called khanom Tokyo. The documents showed personal health details. Records of one patient with hepatitis B were also exposed.
The social media influencer posted pictures online. The post, made in May 2024, quickly went viral with over 33,000 reactions and 1,700 comments, according to the South China Morning Post. The hospital's name has not been made public so far.
On August 1, Thailand's Personal Data Protection Committee fined the hospital 1.21 million baht (more than ₹ 32 lakh) for leaking over 1,000 private medical files. Officials said the hospital had hired a small family business to destroy documents but failed to monitor the process.
Instead of destroying them, the contractor kept the files at home and didn't inform the hospital after the leak. This broke Thailand's data protection law, which says hospitals must protect patient information.
The contractor was also fined 16,940 baht (about ₹ 49,000). This was one of six cases the PDPC has handled. The law came into full effect in 2022.
'The hepatitis B virus is unlikely to be transmitted through paper. However, we are worried that the paper has passed through who knows how many hands, and the toxins contaminated with the printing ink,' SCMP quoted one of them as saying.
Another commented, 'Buyers should boycott shops that use recycled bags like this. Vendors want to cut costs even though they know it is not safe. The medical documents should be shredded instead of being sold.'
'More importance should be given to the personal rights of patients. The hospital should be sued and its licence revoked,' came from another.
In June, two big hospitals in North Delhi were hit by a cyberattack. Sant Parmanand and NKS Super Speciality were the victims.
At first, it looked like a technical issue. But, later both hospitals confirmed it had been a hacking attempt. Sensitive data like patient records and billing info were accessed.
India's patient data privacy is protected by the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. It requires hospitals and clinics to take permission before collecting or using a patient's health data.
The Act says data must be used only for legal and clear purposes. It must be stored safely using tools like passwords and encryption. Patients have the right to see, change or delete their data.
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