DPDP Act and digital health: Is your software fit for purpose?

The intersection of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) 2023 and digital health poses a critical question: Is your software equipped to meet the demands of this evolving regulatory landscape? As the digital health sector continues to expand and innovate, ensuring compliance with the stringent requirements of the DPDP Act is essential for technology providers.

- KHUSHBU JAIN

The DPDP Act, with its comprehensive coverage of digital data that can uniquely identify individuals, including health-related genetic and biometric data, necessitates robust protection measures and meticulous compliance efforts. The DPDP Act 2023 mandates that personal data can only be processed after obtaining clear and informed consent from the data principal, necessitating software solutions to incorporate robust mechanisms for capturing, managing and verifying this consent in compliance with Section 6 of the Act. The Act also allows for certain legitimate uses of personal data without explicit consent, such as during medical emergencies or public health threats, requiring software to identify and categorize data processing activities while maintaining transparency effectively. Organizations that get categorized as Significant Data Fiduciaries, must conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) to evaluate risks associated with data processing and software should facilitate these assessments and help implement necessary safeguards. Furthermore, the Act emphasizes adequate security measures to protect personal health data from breaches, necessitating strong encryption, access controls, and regular security audits within software solutions. Lastly, clear communication about how personal health data will be used is essential;