Hospital makes up rules to withhold data.

Times of India: Chennai: Thursday, March 20, 2014.

The corporation has a well documented history of underreporting diseases and deaths in the city, but this time officials of the civic body's primary referral hospital for communicable diseases have been struck by a particularly severe form of information denial syndrome.

Not only has Communicable Diseases Hospital (CDH) in Tondiarpet refused to provide information on cases of cholera, H1N1 and acute diarrhoeal disease in the city in response to a petition under the RTI Act, it has even flouted stipulations of the Act by making up internal rules and protocol to withhold data.

An RTI application filed by TOI last November, seeking information on cases of communicable diseases in Chennai, elicited no response from the hospital's PIO for several months. Then, in March, in a brazen attempt to cover up the fact that the city has had periodic outbreaks of communicable diseases as reported by private hospitals the hospital said it requires the permission of the corporation commissioner to provide the data.

The civic body did, however, provide data on dengue and malaria cases. So why does the hospital, and the civic body, want to keep the number of cholera, H1N1 and diarrhoea cases a secret?

Sources in Ripon Buildings say CDH maintains statistics on cholera, H1N1 and diarrhoeal disease, but officials appear to have received directions not to make the numbers public. A top CDH official told TOI that the hospital requires the commissioner's approval to share the details, while deputy commissioner (health) Dr T Anand and city health officer Dr P Kuganantham were unavailable for comment.

Activists in the city were startled when informed about the lengths that CDH is prepared to go to withhold information. Section 4 of the RTI Act makes regular cataloguing and indexing of records compulsory, and other provisions of the legislation stipulate that the information be shared under the act by the PIOs of public departments and agencies.

"Many PIOs now consult with senior officials before providing replies to applicants. This is not permitted under the RTI Act," Vijay Anand, founder of the NGO Fifth Pillar, said.

Public health experts said keeping such records confidential could have adverse repercussions in official levels of preparedness for outbreak of diseases. "This secrecy also hinders medical research because in the absence of accurate figures there is no way to study the prevalence of any disease or disease subtype," a senior doctor said.