National Health Insurance (NHI) data on private citizens have for years been illicitly used for reasons other than their original purpose, legislators and human rights groups representatives said yesterday, calling for the passage of a law governing the use and protection of personal health information.
At a public hearing concerning the government’s “value-added application” of information about citizens’ medical records, Democratic Progressive Party legislators Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) and You Mei-nu (尤美女) said NHI officials have been providing such information to the National Health Research Institute and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Collaboration Center of Health Information Application to use for databases that can be accessed by other parties for research or survey purposes.
The lawmakers said that the inadequacy of current regulations on the use of NHI data has jeopardized people’s medical privacy.
In defense of the data utilization, some government officials have cited Article 16 of the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法), which allows government agencies to use individuals’ personal information if it is within “the scope of its job function.” The article further stipulates that such data may be used if it serves the public interest or for academic research conducted by a government agency or academic institution, but adds that any personal information used cannot disclose the identity of the individual it pertains to.
However, Taiwan Association for Human Rights specialist Chiu I-ling (邱伊翎) said that the “public interest” is a vague term and the act does not authorize the release of personal information by the government to a third party.
“The act is a general law. It is the lowest threshold, not the legal basis regulating how the state should handle the public’s private health data. Neither the NHI Act (全民健康保險法) nor the Medical Care Act (醫療法) sanction third-party use,” Chiu added.
She said that a law should be written that provides a mechanism enabling people to opt out of sharing their medical records.
“There are no studies anywhere that do not allow participants to quit, which is essentially the situation Taiwanese are in now, with everyone forced to participate in research work,” Chiu said.
She also said government agencies’ measures to make health information anonymous before it is used for research are ineffective and faulted the government for failing to make clear how the public benefits such studies, for example through the discovery of new drugs or filing of patents.
Chiou Wen-tsong (邱文聰), an associate research professor at Academia Sinica Institutum Jurisprudentiae, likened using private information without consent to requisitioning data.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition