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The Department of Health (DH) announced today (January 14) a case of lost personal data.
According to a preliminary enquiry by the DH, a staff member of the Kowloon Bay Student Health Service Centre of the DH discovered the loss of about 800 enrolment forms, containing personal data, on December 23, 2014. A thorough search was conducted in the Centre immediately but in vain.
The enrolment forms were collected from a secondary school for students to apply for the annual health screening service in the new school year (2014/15).
The DH is currently contacting all the affected students' parents through the school to inform them of the incident and to express apologies. A telephone hotline, 2349 4212, has been set up for enquiries for parents during office hours. The DH also extended apologies to the school concerned for the inconvenience caused as a result of the incident.
A DH spokesman stressed that the incident will not affect the application for the annual health screening of the students concerned. The Student Health Service of the DH will organise another enrolment exercise for them as soon as possible.
The DH has reported the incident to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong and the Police. The DH is very concerned about the incident and will conduct a thorough investigation with a view to avoiding recurrence of similar incidents. It will also step up efforts in reminding staff members of the importance of protection of personal data and privacy.
Ends/Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:04
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