Hong Kong police arrest former Hospital Authority employee for allegedly obtaining personal information of patients, including officers and politicians
- Patients whose personal information the suspect had allegedly searched for included police officers, politicians and entertainers
- The former clerk was detained for access to a computer with dishonest intent, and officers are not ruling out more arrests
Hong Kong police have arrested a former public hospital employee accused of accessing and obtaining information from a database of patients which included police officers, politicians and entertainers.
In a press briefing on Saturday, Chief Inspector Tai Tze-bun, of the cyber security and technology crime bureau, said officers on Friday arrested the 50-year-old man, who worked as a clerk at the Hospital Authority.
Tai said initial investigations revealed the suspect had searched for personal information of several patients between February and August last year.
The patients included police officers, politicians, senior authority staff, and local entertainers. But their medical histories were not part of the information.
“The motive of the suspect is still under investigation. We do not rule out making more arrests,” Tai said.
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He added the court had issued an interim injunction on the doxxing and publication of police officers’ and their family members’ personal information in 2019, when the anti-government unrest was at its height in Hong Kong. The court order is still in force.
The authority said that while auditing the use of the Integrated Patient Administration System from January to August last year, the group internal audit department identified unusual search records by the clerk who looked into patients’ reservations. The clerk, who has already left his role, was responsible for patients’ registration in a hospital.
The head office immediately notified the cluster where the hospital belonged to. The cluster immediately launched an investigation and referred the case to police. The authority said the hospital would fully cooperate with police in investigation.
The suspect was arrested for access to a computer with dishonest intent in Yuen Long. The offence carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
During the operation, officers also seized a computer and two mobile phones.
The authority has also reported the case to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.
