Published Paper Details:

Genetic data holds immense and transformative significance in today's healthcare services. it enables the doctor to give personalized treatment to their patients. it allows easy diagnosis of diseases, customization of medicines, and advancing preventive care. genomics and next-generation sequencing help doctors to find the exact genetic cause of a disease much faster, such as personalized cancer treatment. Tailored medicine helps doctors choose the right medicine at the right dosage for the patient, while electronic health records (EHRs) make diagnosis and treatment faster and more accurate by storing all the personal data in one place. While innovation has paved the way for personalized health care, on the other hand, it calls for robust privacy safeguards, transparent governance, and informed consent to prevent misuse and breaches of the highly sensitive genetic information. the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union treats genetic data as "special category data" that needs extra protection and requires informed consent of the patient before collecting genetic data. In contrast, India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA), a progressive step towards genetic healthcare, doesn't clearly define or classify genetic data as sensitive and provides only a limited Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF). This paper adopts a doctrinal and comparative approach, analyzing statutory provisions, judicial decisions, and ethical frameworks. The study finds that while India's DPDPA provides a general framework, it fails to effectively address the sensitivity and perpetual nature of genetic data, making the Right to be Forgotten concept theoretical in the medical context. Protection of genetic privacy is indispensable to uphold human dignity, informed consent, and trust in the healthcare system.