Parliament to discuss blood donor data leak

The online breach that exposed the personal information of more than 800,000 blood donors will be raised when the House sits on Monday.

At least eight MPs have filed questions on the data leakdisclosed by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) earlier this month. One of the HSA's vendors had improperly put a database containing the names and NRIC numbers of blood donors, among other information, on a server that was accessible via the Internet.

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) wants to know if there would be a review of the HSA's responsibility in the matter, like whether it had taken reasonable steps to protect the personal data of the donors.

Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar GRC) has asked if there were factors causing the public healthcare sector to be particularly vulnerable to IT incidents.

Another breach was reported earlier this year - confidential details of 14,200 HIV patients were leaked online by American Mikhy Farrera-Brochez.

Also on the agenda during question time is the collapse of water-treatment company Hyflux, which operates the Tuaspring desalination plant.

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) has asked if the challenges facing Hyflux would affect Singapore's water supply, and whether a review should be done on the involvement of private firms in providing water.

At Monday's session, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam will make a statement on restricting hate speech, and Health Minister Gan Kim Yong will make one on protecting patients' interests.

Three Bills will be introduced: the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, which will require online news sites to publish corrections or warnings on fake news, or even take down such articles; the Protection from Harassment (Amendment) Bill; and the Pioneer Generation Fund (Amendment) Bill.

Tham Yuen-C

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 30, 2019, with the headline Parliament to discuss blood donor data leak. Subscribe