CANBERRA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has agreed to overhaul its controversial My Health Record system amid concerns about privacy protections.
My Health Record is summary of Australians' key health information, giving patients and doctors easy access to the data via an online portal.
Concerns about the system arose in July when it was revealed that police could access the data without a warrant and patient's basic data could be held for up to 130 years even after that patient logged out of the system and asked for deleting the data.
Health Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday announced changes to improve security after consulting with the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and College of General Practitioners.
Under the new plan, all information on a patient will be deleted after they opt-out and police and government agencies will require a court order to access the data.
"The Digital Health Agency's policy is clear and categorical -- no documents have been released in more than six years and no documents will be released without a court order," Hunt said in a statement on Wednesday.
"This will be enshrined in legislation. This change to the My Health Record Act will therefore remove any ambiguity on this matter."
Tony Bartone, president of the AMA, said "after the assurances we received last night and the commitment to strengthen the legislation, we can now move forward and have certainty around the protections to the privacy of those records that our patients expect."
