A woman who was advised by the Privacy Commissioner to seek his office's help after a Chinese herbalist refused to disclose what was in her drug prescription has now been told it cannot help.
The woman, who has not been named, was diagnosed with severe hormonal imbalance after taking a herbal concoction from Chinese-medicine practitioner Au Sik-kee over a 100-day period starting in November 1999 at his Causeway Bay clinic. The consultation and drugs cost $30,000.
After Mr Au repeatedly refused to disclose what was in the concoction, the patient aired her grievances on Commercial Radio's Tea Cup in a Storm in June.
Privacy Commissioner Stephen Lau Ka-men advised her to take her complaint to his office as a case of possible personal data protection violation.
But she received a letter from the commission on Monday saying Mr Au claimed he had lost her prescription.
She was told over the phone the commission could not do anything to help, although the matter would be investigated further.