Kerala may not hand over Covid-19 data to US firm after Congress calls it ‘breach of privacy’

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged foul play in the contract inked with the US firm saying crucial data collected from I.75 lakh people by field workers will be vulnerable. T

The Kerala Government on Monday decided not to hand over the state’s Covid-19 data to US-based company ‘Sprinkler’ after the opposition Congress raised serious objections saying it will be a breach of privacy and vital data.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had defended the government’s decision saying no fee was involved in the contract and its CEO was an NRI from the state. (PTI file photo)

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged foul play in the contract inked with the US firm saying crucial data collected from I.75 lakh people by field workers will be vulnerable. The government did not invite a tender to gift the deal to ‘Sprinkler’ which calls itself a leading citizen and customer experience management platform, he said adding private players from the pharmaceutical sector will be benefited from the deal.

Earlier the CM had defended the government’s decision saying no fee was involved in the contract and its CEO was an NRI from the state. He said the government had contacted the US-based firm to provide an application to health workers to store field data collected from people who are under observation. He said this data will be stored in a secure server in the country and denied any breach.

But later the Kerala government CM Pinarayi Vijayan evaded a direct reply saying it will be proper to ask the Information Technology department about this. “The CM’s silence over the issue increased doubts over the deal,” said Chennithala asking him to come clean over the matter.