RESPECT PATIENTS’ RIGHTS
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It ought to be noted that all persons will someday become patients.
Over time, disease spares no one.
It is a requirement of our existence that human beings should treat each other with respect and dignity.
It is this observation that gave birth to the United Nations Charter on Human Rights, and Zambia is a signatory to this global agreement called the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
Zambia is a constitutional democracy whose governance should be premised on observance of human rights, ethics and the rule of law.
Zambia’s health minister Mr Elijah Muchima should know that all patients worldwide have rights.
One of the fundamental rights of a patient is to have information about his or her health kept private. And the ultimate control of such information, information about a patient rests with the patient himself or herself.
It is important that should the need for disclosure of a patient’s records arise, the right procedures are followed and the patient’s consent is sought always.
Guided and mandated by the laws of Zambia, the Health Professions Council of Zambia states that ‘patients have a right to expect that information about them will be held in confidence by health care practitioners. Confidentiality is central to trust between practitioners and patients. Without assurances about confidentiality, patients may be reluctant to give practitioners the information they need in order to provide good care. Where health practitioners are asked to provide information about patients, they should seek the consent of patients to [for] disclosure of information wherever possible.’
Further, the Zambia Data Protection Act of 2021 (Act No. 3 of 2021) protects personal data and regulates how it can be used. The purpose of this Act is to protect personal data and sensitive personal data; to promote the responsible use of personal data; to create a secure digital environment and to provide rights to data subjects [such as patients].
All these guidelines, inter alia, justiciable and otherwise, on the ethical handling of a patient’s information, and statutes that consolidate and protect the rights of patients were not developed solely for Ms Edith Nawakwi and Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
They were put in place for all citizens by citizens and the international community to ensure order in the affairs of people, a just society everywhere and to protect and uphold the dignity of all persons.
From the foregoing, it is clear to see that Mr Elijah Muchima is being asked to do an impossible job.
Mr Muchima has neither the jurisdiction nor the authority to divulge the medical records of anyone, citizen or otherwise.
Such an act on his part would be blatantly ultra vires, grossly unethical and, would constitute a severe violation of human rights and a veritable crime against humanity.
And such conduct on his part would constitute cogent grounds for his resignation.
But Mr Elijah Muchima is an educated man with a fine mind.
Zambians ask that his sobriety of thought should now not be tainted by the nefarious urgings and plots of his corrupt colleagues.
Let Mr Elijah Muchima be warned that he must never overstep his mandate and fall prey to the ill and shady machinations of his imingalato associates in Cabinet.
Let him understand that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
Let him desist from walking on thin ice as what his colleagues, through parliament, are urging him to do is that dangerous.
The only ministerial statement he should give in parliament is that he has neither the mandate nor authority to divulge information about any patient in Zambia or anywhere else for that matter. As brief as that.
Should he wish to lengthen his statement, he could add that in due course, following due processes, respective medical reports from the responsible healthcare providers of the named subjects, and only with their consents, will/may be submitted to the House.
To reiterate, the control of information about any patient is the sole responsibility and authority of the patient.
Barring this, disclosure only happens under special and guided provisions as stipulated by mandated health authorities such as the Health Professions Council of Zambia.
In conclusion, as the history of Zambia’s republican presidency illustrates, when Elijah Muchima falls ill one day, as he shall, we all shall respect this right of his.
We all, as one Zambia and one nation, shall rise up and, in unison, shall defend his right to privacy, confidentiality and dignity.
One fall all, all for one!
Dr Canisius BANDA
Public Health Specialist
PF National Chairman For Health
19 February 2025
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