• 
• 

Published on September 28, 2007

 This was the first time the commission had met to discuss the Act since it was announced in March.

National Health Comm-issioner Dr Wichai Chokewiwat said they had decided Articles 7, 8 and 9 needed greater attention.

Article 7 decrees that patients' personal information be kept completely confidential and under no circumstances be disclosed, especially if it causes damage to the patient.

Article 8 says that during diagnosis, medical workers ask the right questions and patients answer in detail.

Article 9 says that public health professionals planning to use a patient for research must inform the patient in advance and secure a written consent first.

Jiraporn Limpananont, chairperson of the Foundation for Consumers, said Article 7 was not directly beneficial to patients, especially if they needed to sue medical workers and could not access their medical records to use as evidence in court.

"We have to think about how patients can access their personal records. We have been trying to ask for records from hospitals but to no avail, " Jiraporn said.

According to Article 8, she said the health agency should come up with a standard checklist for medical workers to use when diagnosing, because most patients don't know what sort of information doctors need.

Meanwhile, Dr Prasert Palittapongarnpim, member of the National Health Foundation, expressed concerns about Article 9, which he said does not cover scientists doing research on subjects like genetics.

He said most scientists do not reveal what they will be doing with information gleaned from blood or tissue samples, which could be crucial because it reveals the patient's health history. Access to this information could also lead to discrimination, so more regulations are needed to control researchers and scientists.

Wichai said all ideas collected at the meeting would be used as a guideline by the National Health Commission Office to issue regulations. He expects the Act to be a key mechanism to protect patients' rights.

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation