- Joined
- Dec 30, 2010
- Messages
- 12,730
- Points
- 113
“I’ve been stuck at the fact that there was this massive breach of the Official Secrets Act and it was kept quiet until this week. Police report made in 2016, quietly. A charge included in the doctor’s case, but it was stood down and it doesn’t look like any court reporter spotted it. Meanwhile, other individuals have been dealt with under the OSA for doing much, much less. Sigh!
“For some years in the late 1990s when I helped at Action for AIDS’ anonymous blood testing centre at Kelantan Lane, I witnessed the anxiety of many people of all ages who came to be tested, and the anguish and tears of those who had to be told they’d tested positive. Although so much has changed in the treatment of people who are HIV positive, the stigma has not gone away, the ignorance and fear persist, and most people who are positive in Singapore still keep their status private. So what this horrible jerk has done by releasing the identities of people who tested positive is utterly cruel and truly, truly awful. None of us can imagine the anxiety of those who worry now that their HIV status is going to be exposed. So some of us will wonder why more was not done between 2016 and now to avoid that data breach coming to this.
“If there is any good that can come of this terrible case, it is that more individuals living with HIV will now stand up and say: “You know what, I’m positive, I’m alive and I’m OK. You’re not OK with that? That’s your problem.” Fight the stigma harder. With the medication available, many are living normal lives and living long lives. If the Health Ministry wants to make amends to the HIV community for this breach of its confidential records, it can do more now to fight the persistent ignorance in Singapore that keeps people living with HIV in a state of fear of being found out. It’s a chronic medical condition, treatable.”
Earlier, another ex-Straits Times heavyweight, Bertha Henson, criticised MOH over how it handled the HIV data leak. Asserting that MOH’s handling of the HIV registry data theft seemed like it was meant to “cover up” the leak, the veteran journalist said:“For some years in the late 1990s when I helped at Action for AIDS’ anonymous blood testing centre at Kelantan Lane, I witnessed the anxiety of many people of all ages who came to be tested, and the anguish and tears of those who had to be told they’d tested positive. Although so much has changed in the treatment of people who are HIV positive, the stigma has not gone away, the ignorance and fear persist, and most people who are positive in Singapore still keep their status private. So what this horrible jerk has done by releasing the identities of people who tested positive is utterly cruel and truly, truly awful. None of us can imagine the anxiety of those who worry now that their HIV status is going to be exposed. So some of us will wonder why more was not done between 2016 and now to avoid that data breach coming to this.
“If there is any good that can come of this terrible case, it is that more individuals living with HIV will now stand up and say: “You know what, I’m positive, I’m alive and I’m OK. You’re not OK with that? That’s your problem.” Fight the stigma harder. With the medication available, many are living normal lives and living long lives. If the Health Ministry wants to make amends to the HIV community for this breach of its confidential records, it can do more now to fight the persistent ignorance in Singapore that keeps people living with HIV in a state of fear of being found out. It’s a chronic medical condition, treatable.”
http://theindependent.sg/another-ex...overed-utterly-cruel-hiv-data-leak-years-ago/
