There is no second
opinion about the fact that when technology is used for medical
purposes, it gives rise to medico legal and techno legal issues.
Countries around the world have realised this fact and they have made
suitable laws to tackle these medico legal and techno legal issues.
For instance, in United States, the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA),
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
(HITECH Act), etc are some of the laws that take care of medico legal
and techno legal issues of e-health and telemedicine.
On the other hand, we have no dedicated telemedicine
laws in India. Issues like online
sales of prescribed medicines in India, digital
communication channels for drugs and healthcare products in India,
online
sales and purchase of prescribed drugs and medicines in India,
etc are still vague and confusing.
E-health
laws and regulations in India are still missing and legal
enablement of e-health in India is needed on an urgent
basis. As on date e-health
in India is facing legal roadblocks. Till now we do not
have any dedicated e-health laws and regulations in India.
At Perry4Law
Organisation and Perry4Law’s
Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we firmly believe that dedicated
telemedicine laws of India must be urgently formulated.
This is more so when there are many people and
institutions in India that are using Internet in an illegal manner
for selling medical products and services. Illegal
and unregulated online sales of prescribed medicines in India
are rampant and Indian government has still not regulated or
controlled these online sales of medicines in India, especially in
the NCR region.
Similarly, there are some medical professional and
para medical professional who are using Internet for providing their
services without following the applicable laws of India. There are
also many online
pharmacies in India that are violating Indian laws,
especially the e-commerce
laws and regulations of India.
Source: P4LO Blog.
