Aadhaar Not Mandatory For Medical Treatment in Private Hospitals, Says UIDAI CEO
Aadhaar, the 12-digit identifier, is being used for identity authentication across telecom companies, banking sectors, social welfare schemes, public distribution system, income tax amongst others.
New Delhi, March 12: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Sunday said that no individual can be denied medical attention due to lack of Aadhaar card. A recent tweet by UIDAI CEO states that private hospitals cannot insist on Aadhaar card and cannot deny treatment to any patient for not furnishing the 12-digit UID at the time of admission.
The recent move comes after incidences of hospitals refusing to admit patients for not carrying Aadhaar card surfaced in the last few months. Aadhaar, the 12-digit identifier, is being used for identity authentication across telecom companies, banking sectors, social welfare schemes, public distribution system, income tax amongst others.
To recall, in December 2017, Shakuntala Devi (55), widow of Kargil war martyr Havaldar Laxman Dass died for want of medical care at a private hospital as it insisted on having the patients Aadhaar card. The deceased so, Pawan Kumar Balyan was quoted by PTI saying, "At the counter of the hospital, the authorities asked me to give the Aadhaar card of my ailing mother so that she could be admitted for treatment. I told them that I have forgotten it and will get it soon from my home, and requested them to start the treatment. But, the hospital authorities insisted on providing the Aadhaar card”.
The extent of Aadhaar usage can well be gauged from the fact that an average of 4 crore authentications are being done on a daily basis. The Aadhaar will now include face recognition alongside iris or fingerprint scan as a means of verifying users. This would help individuals who face issues in biometric authentication or have worn-out fingerprints.
The UIDAI in a statement said that the face authentication will be enabled by July to help people facing difficulty in biometric authentication due to old age, hard work or worn-out fingerprints. The UIDAI said that face authentication would be allowed "only infusion mode" which is along with either fingerprint or iris or OTP to verify the details of Aadhaar holder.
In 2017, the UIDAI had said that Aadhaar data is completely safe and secure. Aadhaar number, it said, is not a secret number and it is to be shared with authorised agencies if one wishes to avail a certain service or benefit of government welfare schemes or other services. "Aadhaar data is fully safe and secure and there has been no data leak or breach at UIDAI," the authority said in response to a report based on RTI that 210 government website made Aadhaar information public. "There was no breach or leakage of Aadhaar data from UIDAI database or server...," it said in a statement.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 12, 2018 10:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).