World Patient Safety Day :Dr Saibal Roy Chowdhury
By:- Dr Saibal Roy Chowdhury, Director – Medical Operations and HOD Anaesthesiology, Narayana Health
Healthcare must move from default data access to permission-based, patient-controlled healthcare. Patients should have simple digital tools that allow them to decide who can access their health information, for what purpose and for how long. They should also be able to view an access history and withdraw permissions whenever they choose, with every interaction recorded transparently.
True interoperability is not merely about enabling hospitals, laboratories, insurers and technology platforms to exchange data. It must ensure that information retains its meaning, context and clinical relevance as it moves across systems. Data should be standardised, accurate, current and traceable to its source. Most importantly, it must reach clinicians in a prioritised and actionable format that supports decision-making rather than adding to the growing volume of information they already need to process.
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into healthcare, it is important to recognise that AI can assist with recommendations, but it cannot assume accountability. The clinician must remain responsible for the final medical decision, while healthcare institutions must ensure safe implementation and technology developers must be transparent about the system’s design, testing and limitations. Patient preferences, informed consent and the right to question or decline a recommendation must remain central to care.
Interoperability should also be designed around the patient’s complete journey from prevention and diagnosis to treatment, discharge and home monitoring rather than around the boundaries of individual organisations. The greatest barriers today are fragmented incentives, proprietary systems, inconsistent standards and organisational reluctance to share data. These challenges require open standards, enforceable data-sharing rules, stronger governance and meaningful patient representation.
Finally, the answer to the growing volume of data from wearables, genomics, AI and remote monitoring is not more dashboards. Healthcare systems must curate information, filter low-value signals, highlight meaningful trends, personalise alerts and clearly identify the next action. Every data point should either support a clinical decision, improve patient understanding or trigger an appropriate response. Otherwise, data abundance risks becoming information overload rather than meaningful insight.