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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson of Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) today (July 26) made the following announcement regarding a suspected theft case:
Today at 8am, QMH found that a locked door of the Centre of Li Ka Shing Foundation Hospice Service Programme (the Centre) had been broken. One hard disk, two passwords protected desk top computers, and three computer monitors were found lost. The hard disk in one of the password protected desk top computers contained the personal information including:
(1) English name and identity card number of about 700 cancer patients
(2) Chinese name, identity card number and telephone number of about 80 cancer patients
(3) Chinese name, telephone number, identity card number and very brief family background of about 25 cancer patients
(4) Very brief clinical information of one to two cancer patients
(5) Chinese and English name, identity card number, telephone number and address of about 30 to 40 volunteers.
Preliminary investigation by the Hospital found that the Centre had been regularly patrolled by security guards on a daily basis. There were five patrols yesterday (July 25) and the latest patrol was today at 5.29am. No abnormal circumstance was found.
The Hospital has reported the case to the Police immediately 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 notifying the patients and volunteers concerned and all of them will be notified within three days this week. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to the patients and volunteers concerned and a hotline (Telephone number: 2255 4649/ Operation hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) has been set up to handle patients' enquiry.
Furthermore, QMH will review and strengthen the hospital security measures, including increasing the frequency of security-staff patrols, changing the door code, and the locks of the doors.
Ends/Monday, July 26, 2010
Issued at HKT 21:47
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