Health Data Privacy in Digital Medicine: An Islamic Perspective

Health issue has taken a different dimension as to the paper work it was known for in the past. Records on paper flown from one hospital office to the other as they gave access to many eligible and non-eligible health workers to patients' secret health conditions. In the recent time, digital medicine has transformed health care reports via electronic health records, wearable devices, Artificial Intelligence, cloud-based medical systems and telemedicine. It is no doubt that the aforementioned health innovations have introduced efficacious improvement to the Sector: easiness compared to the task of carrying hard copies of patients, fast communication among laboratory technicians, medical doctors, scan centers, pharmaceutical departments etc. Yet, the innovation has, also, introduced serious concerns regarding protection of patients' privacy. Islam as the complete religion plays paramount importance to keeping secrets of others known to some professionals during the period and beyond when they attend to their customers or clients, without divulging such secrets to the third party. This paper, therefore addresses this as a challenge in health sector which it addresses from Islamic perspective as the papers centre its discussion on examining health data privacy, focusing on the principle of trust (Amānah) confidentiality, prevention of dishonouring humans against harms and maintain human dignity. In order to drive home the points, this research adopts analytical and doctrine, with oral interview conducted with a few health workers as buttressed with quotations from primary and secondary sources of Islam in conjunction with the citations from classical juristics' opinions. In addition, contemporary legal maxims and legal verdicts in addition to the stance of Nigeria's Constitution. Conceptual framework was based on objectives of Islamic Law (Shariah) particularly, preservation of life, intellect, property and dignity. The objective of the paper proves that Islamic law protects passionately, patients' personal medical secret information. It summarizes that leaving out patients or clients' health information without his or her consent is against Islamic law and tant amounts to offending Allah and the patients. At the end of the entire discussion, the paper draws out some recommendations.