Kollam: Hospital managements do not have the authority to withhold patients’ treatment records, said state information commissioner A Abdul Hakim. He was delivering the keynote address at the state-level graduation ceremony of acupuncture healers in Kollam.
The results of tests conducted on patients, surgeries performed, medications administered, and the patient’s condition at the start and end of treatment should all be provided in a discharge summary. If it is not provided to the patient, the Right to Information Act is available for their protection, and the district medical officer will obtain and provide it within 48 hours, he said.
This should not be a mere scribble. Doctors who write prescriptions illegibly are denying the patient’s right to know. He further explained that the private healthcare sector and the pharmaceutical trade have become exploitative fields. There should be auditing and research in the patient-friendly treatment method of acupuncture, Abdul Hakim added.
Eravipuram MLA M Noushad inaugurated the event. He said that only treatment methods that can provide the fastest recovery at the lowest cost should be encouraged. As many as 450 new healers graduated at the ceremony.
