Digital Healthcare and Data Protection

Human Rights Perspectives in Context

Abstract

The development of digital technology led to rapid progress and innovation in the field of healthcare across the world, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Data-driven technologies provide benefits such as diagnostic accuracy, operational efficiencies, etc. In India, the healthcare sector is seeing advancements in infrastructure and technology, supported by state policies and initiatives. While these offer great potential for access to healthcare, they also raise human rights concerns about privacy and discrimination, and necessitate strong data protection measures.

Considering such potential human rights violations in digital healthcare, the authors felt it necessary to analyse the ethico-legal implications which digitalisation raises for the healthcare system and its stakeholders. This paper explores the critical issues at the intersection of digital healthcare, data protection, and human rights. It examines how the use of digital infrastructure and the collection of sensitive health data can raise ethical concerns about confidentiality, discrimination, and autonomy for the beneficiaries.

The first part of the paper would provide an overview of the recent advancements in digital healthcare. The second part would then analyse the human rights concerns and corresponding legal measures associated with this area. The final part would propose recommendations to navigate such concerns, emphasizing the importance of human rights-based approaches to develop and implement digital health technologies.