Question

 

PHC 216

Justify with an example from current health issues, the reasons under which confidentiality can be breached under public interest?

 

Answer 1

The world is facing a big health issue in the present situation. Millions are suffering and loosing their life around the world. As Covid 19 is a communicable disease with droplet mode of transmission contact tracing and route mapping is an important measure when a case is found positive. These interventions cannot be avoided as it is a key factor in the control of this disease. The quarantine of the contacts of the positive person can prevent the further spreading of disease. Here is the matter of confidentiality arise. Confidentiality issue can occur in two areas:

1.Disclosing to the public the details of the positive person

2.charting the routemap of the positive person

In the first issue that is disclosing the identity, in this case the main issue is social stigma. The community will isolate the person and family completely. The mental tension the positive person is bearing apart from his physical illness is uncountable. We cannot blame the community because the fear caused by the disease is so big. In this situation i can give two examples in one situation a child from a family who was on quarantine got snake bite, but no one from neighborhood was ready to take the child to hospital, the parents begged for help a last they lost their child. In another case when a air crash occurred the local people came for rescue ignoring the present situation and saved many lifes and they went on quarantine and some of them later became positive. These are two happenings heard from newspaper.

The second issue is making the route map. This is also a matter of confidentiality, but cannot be avoided. Many news came in the beginning of the pandemic that many are not cooperating to make the route map and the authorities are collecting thier mobile phone tower data and making route map. Also cases aroused like antisocial activities like smuggling when prepared route map.

So in the present situation confidentiality can be breached for public interest because it is un avoidable. Keeping the confidentiality of a person is not as important as saving hundreds of lifes. That is what the authority is doing every where. The are even disclosing the positive cases of public figures, so of them are telling it them self as a message to the community. Any one can get the disease so the matter of confidentiality has no importance, the disease is not a chronic type so also it doesn't matter. So what we can do is be hand in hand to fight and defeat this pandemic.