Medical records of patients can be revealed only in special circumstances – Dr Razi

Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by admin in Health

Dr Ahmed Razi has said that patient’s medical records can be revealed only in special circumstances in accordance with the rules set for such purposes.

Dr Razi, the head of Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), said this speaking at a press conference held yesterday. He said even if there is no law in Maldives regarding the protection of medical records of the patients, there are certain policies practiced in the country to do it. He added that for Doctors to go against this policy would like going against the oath that they took.

He further said that even if this is the case, when a government body requests for patient’s records than IGMH will provide information officially.

Dr Razi said that Doctors conduct tests not because a patient has a certain disease but to ascertain that the patient does not have a certain disease.

Dr Razi said that about 50,000 people conduct HIV test every year and that many other tests are also taken for different reasons. Dr Razi said that people should not panic about this.

He further said that IGMH had released some information to Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) that the Commission needed but that HRCM did not use the information in the best way. Dr Razi said that HRCM used that information in a very irresponsible manner.

CEO of IGMH Zubair Mohamed said that recently false some allegations had been made by HRCM when they said that IGMH was putting obstructions in HRCM’s work of obtaining information about the teenage girls who took pregnancy tests this year. Zubair said that IGMH will provide any information available provided they follow the procedure of doing such things.

He further added that IGMH continues to convey information about unusual cases that come to IGMH to concerned government bodies as soon as they come to know of it.