Workers' Party member and former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Gerald Giam has asked why did the Ministry of Health take more than two years to notify the affected individuals who had data of their HIV-positive status stolen.

Giam said in a Jan. 29 Facebook post that it was "most disturbing and sickening" that data from MOH's HIV registry was stolen.

He asked how could 14,200 records be downloaded by, presumably, an end user who was not a system administrator, and questioned if other end users still had the ability to do so currently.

He ended his post with a "accountability" hashtag.

Here's his post:

Contacting affected parties

MOH announced on Jan. 28 that Mikhy K Farrera Brochez, a United States citizen, was in illegal possession of records from MOH's HIV Registry.

Brochez was a partner of Ler Teck Siang, a Singaporean doctor who was Head of MOH’s National Public Health Unit from March 2012 to May 2013.

It is through Ler that Brochez had come into possession of the records.

MOH said that in 2016, it was alerted via a tip off that Brochez was in possession of the records and it made a police report. The police searched Brochez's and Ler's properties and seized all relevant material that was found.

In May 2018, MOH "received information" that Brochez "still had part of the records he had in 2016" and that "it did not appear" that the records were made public.

MOH again contacted the police and proceeded to inform affected parties.

On Jan. 22, 2019, MOH was notified Brochez could have more records from the HIV Registry and that this time he had disclosed the information online.

MOH said that since Jan. 26, it has progressively contacted the individuals to notify them and render assistance.

Speaker speaks

Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin also commented on this incident.

His message focused on supporting fellow Singaporeans who are affected by the leak.

Sharing that those affected by it were "fearful and traumatised", Tan said it was because the affected individuals feared the response from their friends, loved ones, and also the public's.

He called for people to be "empathetic and not participate in the online hate that may be generated" and not to drag LGBT issues into the fray as "heterosexuals do contract HIV too".

Asking for "dignity and respect, care and compassion", Tan reminded people not to "share information when it is put out" and to contact the authorities if they come across the information.

Here's his post:

https://www.facebook.com/TanChuanJin1/photos/a.257251717650944/2157084544334309/