[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – Measures taken by the Ministry of Health after information on patients with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) fell into the wrong hands were raised. In this regard, most observers told TODAY that the ministry should have been made public earlier.
Even taking into account the interests of patients, the Ministry of Health could have disclosed certain information as soon as it could have determined the extent of the leak in May 2016, without compromising the process of establishing facts and investigations, added several observers.
Others said that the MS could have had reasons not to do it.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health announced that the confidential information of 14,200 HIV-positive people and 2,400 of their contacts was in the hands of an American named Mikhy K Farrera Broche.
Broche, 33, HIV-positive, lived here between 2008 and 2016 when he cheated the authorities with the help of his boyfriend, Ler Teck Siang. Ler, 37, currently on trial for drug-related offenses, was the former head of the MOH's National Office of Public Health and had access to the HIV registry.
Issues raised since Monday's announcement include:
– Why the Ministry of Health did not inform the public when it was learned in May 2016 that Brochez had information that appeared to come from the HIV registry
– Why the Ministry of Health did not inform the public when it had learned in May 2018 that Brochez still had some of the records of the HIV registry
Build trust
Alan John, former editor and volunteer with the non-governmental organization Action for Aids, said: "When you see that the information was available years ago and we only find out after that Broche did it, inadequate … it's shocking. "
He added: "(The general public) should also know because of the stigma badociated with HIV infection. Our vision of HIV is totally different from that of cancer or heart disease (which most people can understand).
"We know that there is an education of the general population to do when this group is targeted in this way."
In the 1990s, when he volunteered for Action for Aids, he saw "an adult person crumble in tears".
Eugene Tan, a law professor at Singapore Management University, said that "reasonable minds would differ as to when to disclose a data breach (should be)".
Ministry of Health should explain its decision-making process as part of the confidence building process after another significant violation, following the cyber attack on the public health cluster SingHealth, he said declared.
Transparency must be a fundamental principle of how government agencies deal with breaches of data privacy because "it is so that trust is built and maintained, that there is no hiding, "said Associate Professor Tan.
The sociologist Tan Ern Ser of the National University of Singapore said that the Ministry of Health could have been made public after having a more precise idea of the damage done and be able to guarantee to the public that control measures damage is in place.
The Ministry of Health did not respond yesterday evening to questions sent on Wednesday.
Yesterday, the ministry had managed to reach 2,310 of the 3,500 Singaporeans diagnosed with HIV until January 2013 – those who are still alive.
Chan Heng Kee, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, said Monday that his "most important consideration" before disclosing to the public any information was whether the interest and well-being of patients would be compromised.
The Ministry of Health would then examine whether the information has been secured or publicly disclosed, or whether there is "an ongoing risk that the information will be publicly available".
In this case, the information was disclosed online. The Ministry of Health also felt that even with all the efforts it would not be able to "proactively contact" a considerable number of affected individuals.
"Certainly, in the event that information is contained, we will take a more conservative approach, knowing that people in this registry would be concerned about a public announcement," Chan said.
Other considerations?
In the absence of more details from the Ministry of Health, other observers said they could understand the ministry's actions.
MP Joan Pereira, who serves on the government's parliamentary health committee, said the Ministry of Health may have "other considerations" for not making the announcement public immediately.
"The first priority would be to take steps to prevent it from spreading, to deal with the source or to contain it, and to take the appropriate legal measures," she added.
Former member of parliament named Calvin Cheng called on members of the public to "stop the spread of misinformation" of an alleged concealment by the Ministry of Health in a message posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
Cheng said TODAY: "Given the sensitivity and stigma surrounding HIV-positive patients, I do not think it was urgent to tell the general public.
"It is, however, the responsibility to inform HIV patients. I think the Ministry of Health really thought in 2016 that the information had been recovered and that the author had been arrested and punished. By the time they realized that this was not the case in 2018, they informed the affected people.
"In 2019, when the information was made public, she announced it to the public. In this case, the need to protect the privacy of HIV-positive patients takes precedence over the need to make it known to the general public. "
However, Cheng said that the Ministry of Health "should have notified the affected parties immediately in 2016, even after their arrest (Broche)". – TODAY & # 39; HUI
Source link
