American illegally disclosed details of 13 people with HIV: Singapore prisons
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Tee Zhuo
The American at the centre of a leak of HIV data illegally disclosed details of 13 HIV-positive people scheduled for a health check-up at Changi Prison Complex last year.
The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) has made a police report.
SPS said in a statement yesterday that Mikhy Farrera Brochez sent an e-mail on Saturday to some government authorities and media organisations.
The e-mail contained photographs of a piece of paper with a list of NRIC or FIN numbers of 13 HIV-positive individuals, including himself. They were scheduled for a medical check-up on March 28 last year at Changi Prison Complex.
It is unclear if the 13 individuals were among the 14,200 whose data the Ministry of Health (MOH) last month said was leaked by Brochez.
"Brochez appears to have secured unauthorised possession of a copy of the list," said SPS, adding that the list was prepared by SPS' appointed medical provider Parkway Shenton.
"SPS is in the process of reaching out to the individuals on the list to inform them that their information has been disclosed illegally by Brochez," SPS said.
"We have worked with MOH to provide additional support to those who require it."
Last month, MOH revealed that the confidential information of 14,200 people with HIV - including their names, contact details and medical information - had been stolen and leaked online.
Brochez's partner Ler Teck Siang was head of MOH's National Public Health Unit from March 2012 to May 2013 and had access to the HIV Registry for his work.
Ler has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for failing to take reasonable care of confidential information regarding HIV-positive patients.
On Feb 13, Brochez claimed in a series of Facebook posts that he was abused while in police custody, sexually assaulted while in prison and contracted HIV only then. He also claimed that he was denied HIV medication while in jail and that the registry data was leaked by another person.
The Government denied the allegations.
Brochez's posts came a day after Health Minister Gan Kim Yong made a ministerial statement in Parliament. Mr Gan recounted how the data had fallen into Brochez's hands, the events leading up to him leaking the information and the steps the authorities have since taken to manage the leak.
