Singapore accuses US man of stealing and leaking medical records of 14,200 HIV patients online

Singapore’s health ministry has accused an American of stealing and leaking the records of 14,200 people infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, before January 2013.

It said Mikhy K. Farrera Brochez recently put the official records of 5,400 Singaporeans and 8,800 foreigners online. These included HIV test results, names, identification numbers, phone numbers, addresses and other health information, it said on Monday.

“While access to the confidential information has been disabled, it is still in the possession of the unauthorised person, and could still be publicly disclosed in the future,” it said in statement. “We are working with relevant parties to scan the internet for signs of further disclosure of the information.”

The ministry said Brochez worked in Singapore as a lecturer for a period before he was jailed for several drug and fraud-related offences and deported last year. His partner, who headed the ministry’s National Public Health Unit from March 2012 to May 2013, had access to the confidential information, it added.

It identified his partner as Ler Teck Siang, a Singaporean doctor who has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for failing to take reasonable care of confidential information relating to HIV-positive patients. The charge is pending before the courts.

Ler was convicted last September of helping Brochez cheat and providing false information to the police and health ministry, the statement said. He was sentenced to 24 months in jail but has since filed an appeal which will be heard in March.

The ministry said it discovered that Brochez had obtained the confidential records in 2016, and reported it to police. Both Brochez and Ler’s properties were searched and “all relevant material found were seized and secured by the police”, it said.