The investigation is scheduled to be broadcast on ITV on its programme ‘Tonight’ on Monday and is titled ‘Health Records for Sale’. On the basis of the investigation, the police in Britain and their counterparts in India have reportedly launched an investigation.
Sall Anne Poole, head of investigations at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), said: “We are very concerned that private patients’ medical records are on sale in India. The ICO will establish the full facts and will then decide what action, if any, needs to be taken. Medical records are sensitive personal information and must be held securely.”
Chris Rogers, the programme’s presenter, contacted two Indian salesmen through an internet chat room, and posed as a marketing executive keen to buy medical records to sell insurance and medicines.
Rogers bought 116 files with detailed medical records of British patients, from the two salesmen, The Daily Mail reported on Sunday.
The files procured were of patients of London Clinic, one of Britain’s top private hospitals. Several hospitals in the National Health Service have also outsourced their transcription to India, sparking concern over data safety following the latest investigation.