The Hans India: National: Tuesday, May 01, 2018.
The Medical
Council of India (MCI) has imposed an obligation on hospitals as per the
regulations notified on 11th March 2002, amended up to December 2010 to
maintain the medical records and provide patients access to them.
According
ethics regulations of MCI, Maintenance of Medical Records invovles: 1.3.1.
Every physician shall maintain the medical records pertaining to his/her indoor
patients for a period of three years from the date of commencement of the
treatment in a standard proforma laid down by the Medical Council of India and
attached as Appendix 3; and, 1.3.2.
If any request
is made for
medical records either
by the patients/authorised attendant or legal authorities involved, the
same may be duly acknowledged and documents shall be issued within the period
of 72 hours.
In Ozair
Husain Vs Union of India, the bench of
A D Singh and M Mudgal emphasised
that a consumer had
right to information. It could be right to information about
service or product, so that he can find out whether service or goods are
defective and claim damages. In this PIL, the petitioner sought a direction to
disclose voluntarily as to whether food product that is being sold contains
elements from animals or not.
In this case,
the relationship between Right to Information and freedom of expression was
discussed. The bench said: "freedom
of expression enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) can serve two broad purposes (1) it can help the consumer to discover the truth
about the composition of the products, whether
made of animals including birds and fresh water or marine animals or
eggs; and (2) it can help him
to fulfill his
belief or opinion
in vegetarianism."
International
RTI
Article 10
of the European Convention on
Human Rights provides that everyone has a right to freedom of expression and this right shall include freedom to hold
opinions and to receive information and ideas without interference by public
authority and regardless of frontiers. Article 19(1) and 19(2) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights declares that everyone
shall have the right to hold opinions without interference, and every one shall
have the right to freedom of expression, and this right shall include freedom
to seek, receive and impart information
of ideas of all kinds regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in
print, in the form of art, or through
any other media of his choice. It needs to be noted that India is a signatory
to the aforesaid convention..... Right to hold opinions and to receive
information and ideas without interference embodied in the Covenant is
concomitant to the right to freedom of speech and expression which includes
right to free flow of information.
Rigveda
says:
“Aa no
bhadrah kratavo yantu vishwatah” (= May auspicious thoughts come to us from all
over the world)
Since ancient
times we have allowed noble thoughts to come from all sides as proclaimed by
Rig Veda. This has helped in forming, building, strengthening, nurturing,
replenishing and recreating opinions and beliefs of an individual... Reading
Article 19(1)(a) along with the Covenant, it must be recognised that right to
freedom of speech and expression includes freedom to seek, receive and impart
information of ideas. It seems to us that freedom to hold opinions, ideas,
beliefs and freedom of thought, etc., which
is also enshrined
in Preamble to
the Constitution, is part of freedom of speech and expression. Every
person has freedom of choice. But how can he exercise the choice without having
complete information?
Information
about food products
The Bench
observed that where packages of food products, drugs and cosmetics do not
disclose any information in writing and by an appropriate symbol about the
composition of the products contained therein, right to freedom of conscience
of the consumers is violated as they may be unconsciously consuming a
product against their faiths, beliefs
and opinions. The Bench held, “that it is the fundamental right of the
consumers to know whether the food products, cosmetics and drugs are of
nonvegetarian or vegetarian origin, as otherwise it will violate their
fundamental rights under Article 19(1)(a), 21 and 25 of the Constitution”. Regarding
food products the Bench observed that adequate provisions have been made for
informing the consumers as to whether or not the article of food is vegetarian or nonvegetarian.
RTI about
drugs and cosmetics
The Delhi
High Court Bench in Ozair Hussain case explained that as regards drugs and
cosmetics, necessary amendments have not been made in the relevant statutes. In
so far as a life-saving drug is concerned, there is a view point that the
information: whether or not it is derived or manufactured, wholly or partly,
from an animal, should not be disclosed since it is meant to fight disease and
save life.
The division
bench of Delhi High Court directed as follows till such time the requisite
amendments are carried out:
1)Where a
cosmetic or a drug other than life-saving drug, as the case may be,
contains ingredients of nonvegetarian
origin, the package shall carry label
bearing the following symbol in red
colour on the principal display panel just close in proximity to name or
brand name of the drug or cosmetic :
2)Where a
cosmetic or a drug other than life-saving drug, as the case may be,
contains ingredients wholly of
vegetarian origin, the
package shall bear
the following symbol
in green colour on the principal display
panel just close in proximity to name or brand name of the drug or cosmetic:
3)Where a
cosmetic or a drug other than life saving drug has ingredients of vegetarian or
nonvegetarian origin, a declaration shall be made in writing on the package indicating
the nature of the origin of the product.
4) The
Director General of Health Services/Drugs Controller General, Govt. of India,
shall issue a list of Life Saving Drugs within a period of two months.
Securing
rights of the consumers, the division bench of Delhi High Court issued
substantial directions:
(i)to protect
the rights of innocent conscientious consumers who object to the use of animals in whole or in part or their
derivatives in food, cosmetics and drugs, etc., by making the manufacturers and packers thereof
to disclose the ingredients of the aforesaid
products so that they make an informed choice with regard to their
consumption;
(ii)to
the manufacturers and packers of
cosmetics, drugs and articles of food for complete and full disclosure of the ingredients of their
products being sold to consumers;
(iii)a
declaration that the consumers have a
right of making an informed choice between the products made or
derived from animal
and nonanimal ingredients; and
(iv) a direction
to the manufacturers and
packers of food,
cosmetic and drugs
that the products
made from animals
should bear an
easily identifiable symbol
conveying that it
has an animal
ingredient. "
The above
judgment deals with right to information to exercise their choices and
beliefs under Consumer
Protection Act. Extending
this principle derived from Articles 21 and 19 of our Constitution,
a consumer of medical services too has a
right to know what treatment was given to
him/her, what were the reports of diagnostic tests, what were the opinions
expressed by doctors or specialists, why he/she was kept in hospital etc.
The
consumer's right to information extends both to the products and services,
including medical service. It lies basically rooted in the foundations of
liberty, the choice over his own body with reference to treatment.
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