Suspected Theft Case of HDD at Caritas Medical Centre

The following is issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The spokesperson of Caritas Medical Centre (CMC) on June 18 made the following announcement regarding a suspected theft case of a computer hard disk:

The hospital on June 10 found that a computer hard disk which was stored in a locked room of the ophthalmology department pending destruction was lost.The hard disk has contained the medical records and personal information (name, sex, age and identity card number) of around 3,000 eye patients of CMC.

       Caritas Medical Centre

After a full investigation and thorough search within the hospital premises for a few days, the concerned computer hard disk cannot be located.The hospital decided to report the case to the police at noon today and it was classified as a theft case.

The hospital also notified the Hospital Authority Head Office through the Advanced Incidents Reporting System (AIRS) and Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data on this incident.The hospital will facilitate and co-operate with the police in the investigation.

The hospital has started checking the patients’ records to confirm the identity of the patients concerned, and will inform the involved patients about the incident as soon as possible.Furthermore, CMC will review and strengthen the hospital security measures to prevent the recurrence of similar incident.