US citizen Mikhy Farrera Brochez, has disclosed the names of 13 HIV-positive inmates to certain government agencies and media outfits.
A police report has been filed against Brochez by the Singapore Prison Service, and investigations into the matter are underway.
On February 17, Sunday, the prison service released a statement saying that the email from Brochez included a picture of a sheet of paper that had the identification numbers of 13 inmates scheduled for a medical examination on March 28, 2018, in Changi Prison Complex.
The list of patients includes his own name. At present, the prison service is in the process of contacting the other people whose names are on the list to inform them of the illegal disclosure.
It also said that the service is coordinating with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to give extra support to the patients who are in need of it.
The prison service added the American “appears to have secured unauthorised possession of a copy of the list prepared for 28 March 2018 by Parkway Shenton, who is SPS’ appointed medical service provider.”
According to Edmund Kwok, the Chief Executive Officer of Parkway Shenton, “We are aware of the incident. We are assisting fully with the authorities and unable to comment further as investigations are ongoing,” as reported by Today.
The public learned last month from MOH that the confidential information of 14,200 HIV-positive people, as well as their 2,400 contacts, had been leaked by Brochez. The patients’ data he collected was from 1985 to 2013.
Brochez was incarcerated in Singapore on a 28-month jail sentence for different fraud and drug-related offences, he had also falsified information concerning his own HIV-status for the purpose of being allowed to work in the country.
After serving time in jail in Singapore, he was deported to the United States in April 2018.
The American has been in the headlines recently for having accused, via Facebook posts, infectious disease specialist Dr Leong Hoe Nam of giving him the names of HIV-positive inmates.
Leong, who provided medical treatment for Brochez while in prison, has denied these allegations and said he himself has never had a copy of the HIV registry in his possession.
Brochez also claimed that he was raped in prison, which is how he contracted HIV.
He also said that he did not have HIV before his prison stint in Singapore and that when he was diagnosed with the condition, he was not given medical treatment.
Singaporean authorities have denied all of Brochez’ allegations, and have called him “ a pathological liar.”
Facebook removed at least two of Brochez accounts on its platform on Thursday, February 14.
Read related: Edwin Tong: Mikhy Farrera Brochez is a ‘pathological liar’
https://theindependent.sg.sg/edwin-tong-mikhy-farrera-brochez-is-a-pathological-liar/