Health Ministry to propose bill on patient data collection
By Melissa Kok, Reporter
With the passing of the new NRD bill, MOH will be able to collect
relevant medical information for statistical analysis and health
policy research.
THE Ministry of Health (MOH) wants to make it compulsory for
healthcare institutions to provide patient information for its
national database of non-communicable diseases, like cancer and
heart disease.
The National Registry of Diseases Bill is to help MOH to collect
patients' data for research and policy development purposes.
If the bill is passed, MOH will be able to collect relevant medical
information for statistical analysis and health policy research, to
aid the formulation public health policies on disease prevention
and control.
This means healthcare institutions must report all relevant cases
to MOH, and all patients must agree to have their medical
information used for research purposes.
Medical information collected will cover non-communicable diseases,
such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and renal failure.
Currently, the National Registry of Disease includes registries for
these four diseases. Public patients provide data for the NRD on a
voluntary basis.
MOH: We need to collect patient info
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The MOH said by making the collection of data mandatory, the
dataset can be complete and will be useful for national level
planning.
The bill will also make it easier for healthcare providers to give
patients' particulars to the NDR. While it may be ethically correct
to provide such information, it is unclear as to whether the
process is legal.
There are no privacy laws outlined for the collection of such
data.
Details of NRD Bill
It will be mandatory for all healthcare institutions to notify all
new cases of diseases specified in the NRD Act.
NRD will collect a pre-determined and limited set of
epidemiological data which will be prescribed in a subsidiary
legislation under the NRD Act. This includes patient's diagnosis,
relevant medical history, and basic patient information such as
name, age, i/c number, and occupation.
To ensure the patients' particulars are kept confidential. Each
time a new case is reported, all identifiable information about the
patient will be stripped, and stored in a seperate database.
All information is encrypted, and only a limited number of staff
will have access to these records.
Should a situation arise requiring the patient's identifiable
information, MOH will then ask for the patient's permission before
proceeding.
Those who breach patients' privacy face a jail term of up to 12
months and/or fines of up to $10,000.
Feedback
MOH is asking for feedback from healthcare institutions, the
medical and research community, and members of the public on its
proposed National Registry of Diseases (NRD) Act.
The feedback will be reviewed for MOH's proposed National Registry
of Diseases Bill, which is expected to be introduced by the end of
the year.
Cancer will be the first disease covered under the Act.