Panaji: The Bombay high court on Wednesday quashed a state information commission order directing the Goa Medical College (GMC) public information officer to share details of patients admitted to ICU Ward 123 with a man whose son died after a 2024 road accident, under the Right to Information Act.The court held that no larger public interest justified disclosure and that medical conditions of patients are protected under the right to privacy. It noted that even anonymised data cannot be shared as it violates an privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.In Feb 2025, the commission had directed GMC to provide medical details of all 21 ICU patients admitted on Jan 25 and 26, 2024, without revealing personal identities. GMC challenged the order in the high court.D’Mello told the high court his son died due to want of an ICU bed and wanted the information to compare the gravity and seriousness of medical condition of patients already admitted in the ICU with his son’s condition. He told the court his son’s condition was much more serious than some of the patients in ICU and added that if doctors in charge took note of seriousness of the medical condition of patients in the ICU, his son would not have been deprived of a bed in the ICU and would not have died.Justice Neela Gokhale observed that while the father’s grief and intent were understandable, the request did not meet the threshold of larger public interest. “His desire to know the circumstances of his son’s death cannot be said to be malafide, however, seeking details of other patients’ medical conditions is not justified,” the court said.The court added that assessing which patient required ICU care more urgently is a subjective decision of doctors on duty and cannot be questioned in this manner. It also noted that the PIO had already shared information on total and occupied ICU beds.
