Delhi High Court Urges Clear Guidelines on Digital Signature Misuse in Healthcare

The Delhi High Court has instructed the Central and Delhi governments to evaluate guidelines preventing the misuse of fake and scanned signatures in healthcare settings. The petition seeks to address unauthorized use of digital images of signatures by medical personnel, calling for comprehensive central guidelines to ensure authenticity and accountability.

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the central and state authorities to consider a plea for establishing clear guidelines to curb the misuse of fake and scanned signatures, which are often wrongly presented as digital signatures in the healthcare sector. This petition highlights potential risks in authentication processes across medical reports, prescriptions, and official documents.

Despite repeated requests made by the petitioner via email on August 4 and August 13, no acknowledgment or action has been taken, prompting this legal intervention. The case was heard by Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, who granted more time for the respondents to process the petitioner's representation.

Filed by Dr. Rohit Jain through Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, the petition underscores national concerns over unauthorized use of scanned signatures and calls for central guidelines. It emphasizes the legal responsibility of Registered Medical Practitioners in authenticating lab results and raises concerns about practices allowing unauthorized personnel to use digital signatures without proper checks.

The plea cites an RTI response from December 2019 stating physical doctor presence is needed for signing reports, yet MCI regulations do not address digital signature validity. Current systems rely on doctors logging in with user IDs; however, shared access can lead to misuse, with signatures possibly applied even after a departure from a laboratory, as highlighted in the petition.

(With inputs from agencies.)