Biomedical waste, including sensitive medical records from Credence Hospital and Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram, was found in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district.
Published Dec 17, 2024 | 11:37 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 17, 2024 | 3:32 PM
Medical waste. Representative Image. (iStock)
Raising privacy concerns, the patient records hospitals in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram were found in a waste dump in Tamil Nadu.
Biomedical waste, including sensitive medical records from Credence Private Hospital and Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram, was found in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district on Sunday, 15 December. The waste, containing confidential patient details, has raised concerns about privacy breaches and environmental damage.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu authorities have initiated a probe into the incident. It is alleged that the authorities’ registration of an FIR is a delayed action, as several complaints about the dumping of medical waste had been filed earlier.
Tirunelveli District Collector Dr KP Karthikeyan asked the local body officials and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to take action as per law, reported The New Indian Express.
Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police (SP) Silambarasan said an FIR has been registered and the investigation is ongoing. He added that further details would be out only upon knowing how the waste ended up in Tirunelveli district.
However, neither the Kerala health department nor the hospitals concerned have responded to the incident.
Earlier, in April this year, the RCC faced a similar data breach following a cyber attack. In July, Health Minister Veena George confirmed in the state Assembly that it was a ransomware attack that happened. However, she then stated that no patient data was compromised.
The incident disrupted the operations of the RCC for five days from 28 April as it affected software systems in the Radiation Physics and Radiodiagnosis Departments.
According to George, the attack came to light while uploading a patient’s data.
Following detection, RCC alerted the state government, its cyber security division, and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)-Kerala. A subsequent analysis revealed that the malware had impacted eight desktop computers and four servers. A case was registered on 9 May, and investigations are ongoing.
The minister had assured that treatment details for patients remained intact due to RCC’s strong data backup system.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai slammed the Tamil Nadu government over the waste dumping and warned of protest if no action was taken against it.
“Chief Minister MK Stalin, who has been compromising Tamil Nadu’s rights, including Cauvery water, to states governed by his alliance partners, has now allowed Kerala’s Communist government to turn Tamil Nadu’s border districts, such as Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, and Tirunelveli, into dumping grounds,” Annamalai said in a post on X in Tamil.
“While the DMK government maintains close ties with Kerala’s Communist government, our southern districts have been converted into dumping grounds for Kerala’s biomedical, plastic, and meat waste. The checkpoints, which should be stopping these daily truckloads of waste, have merely turned into collection centres for bribes.”
“On one hand, the DMK government turns a blind eye to the illegal transportation of minerals from Tenkasi and Kanyakumari to Kerala, and on the other, it has granted Kerala unrestricted freedom to use Tamil Nadu as a garbage dumping ground. Despite multiple complaints filed with officials and the chief minister’s special division, no action has been taken to put an end to this. All of this is happening with the full knowledge of the DMK government.”
“The DMK government must immediately stop allowing Tamil Nadu’s border districts to be turned into Kerala’s dumping grounds. If such incidents continue, starting from the first week of January 2025, we will mobilise the public and transport these biomedical waste and garbage trucks back to Kerala ourselves. I will personally join the first truck to Kerala to deliver this message to the DMK government,” he added.
காவிரி நீர் உள்ளிட்ட தமிழகத்தின் உரிமைகளை தனது கூட்டணிக் கட்சிகள் ஆளும் மாநிலங்களுக்கு விட்டுக் கொடுத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கும் முதலமைச்சர் திரு @mkstalin அவர்கள், கேரள மாநிலத்தின் எல்லையோர மாவட்டங்களான கன்னியாகுமரி, தென்காசி மற்றும் திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டங்களை, கேரள கம்யூனிஸ்ட் அரசின்… pic.twitter.com/egdyR3x3ue
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) December 17, 2024
(With inputs from Dileep V Kumar and K Nitika Shivani.)
