JAKARTA - Health experts and rights groups have criticised a new draft law in Indonesia, saying it puts the citizens’ health data at risk.
Dr Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian doctoral researcher at Australia’s Griffith University, said that Indonesia comprises numerous ethnic groups and has rich biodiversity, and such assets can make it vulnerable to exploitation for various interests, including commercial and bioterrorism ones. Apart from concern over personal health data, critics of the Health Bill also want a 5 per cent minimum mandatory health spending in the annual state Budget to be kept.
There is high potential for abuse of these materials, said Dr Agung Sapta Adi, a spokesman for the Indonesian Doctors Union . While Indonesia cannot process the data, they will likely become “meaningful” for other parties or countries that control the technology, noted Dr Agung. Human rights lawyer Wahyudi Djafar said that as stipulated in the Personal Data Protection law, the genetic, biometric and data concerning health are “sensitive data”, and there are several conditions governing their use, including explicit consent from people who own them.