United Christian Hospital loses another USB drive

United Christian Hospital lost its second USB thumb drive in less than a month's time.

On Apr 11, a doctor, who is a resident in the obstetrics and gynaecology department, found her USB flash drive containing data of eight patients went missing.

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United Christian Hospital lost its second USB thumb drive in less than a month's time.

On Apr 11, a doctor, who is a resident in the obstetrics and gynaecology department, found her USB flash drive containing data of eight patients went missing.

The data include patients' names and Hong Kong ID numbers, fetal heart scans, and a powerpoint file that contains names and details of seven patients, according to a Hospital Authority spokesman, who added that the data was used for clinical discussion.

The doctor reported the incident to hospital management and the police on Saturday. Both the Hospital Authority and The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data were also informed.

Investigation suggested that the doctor did not follow Hospital Authority's data security guidelines, since patient names and ID numbers were not required for clinical discussion, the spokesman of the Hospital Authority said. The Hospital Authority and the hospital have formed an independent panel to investigate the case.

On March 20, another doctor at the same hospital found her personal USB thumb drive - containing personal data of 47 patients - missing.

The Acting Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Gabriel Matthew Leung, said he was very concern about the repeated loss of USB memory stick containing patients' personal data.