A private hospital in Thailand has been fined over 1.2 million baht (S$47,500) after confidential medical records were found repurposed as packaging for street food.
The bizarre incident sparked national outcry after it first came to light in May 2024, when a Thai influencer shared a photo on Facebook showing a snack wrapped in what appeared to be a patient’s medical documents.
Source: หมอแล็บแพนด้า on Facebook
According to a 1 Aug statement from Thailand’s Office of the Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC), the case involved a large private hospital in Ubon Ratchathani province.
Investigators found that over 1,000 pages of patient medical records had been leaked during the document destruction process.
The hospital had outsourced the task to a small, family-run business but failed to monitor or enforce proper disposal standards.
Source: skhoward on Canva, for illustration purposes only
Instead of securely destroying the documents, the contractor took them home and later used them as food wrappers without informing the hospital of the breach.
One of the leaked documents, seen in the viral post, showed a patient’s full name and diagnosis of Hepatitis B.
The case quickly drew widespread public criticism, with the Facebook post receiving more than 33,000 likes and 1,700 shares, prompting a formal investigation by the PDPC.
The PDPC ruled that both the hospital and the individual contractor had violated Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).
As a result, the hospital was fined 1.21 million baht (approximately S$48,100), while the contractor, identified as the data processor, received a penalty of 16,940 baht (S$670).
According to the committee, the hospital had failed to ensure proper oversight of sensitive health data, which is classified as “sensitive personal information” under Section 26 of the PDPA.
Meanwhile, the contractor breached their legal duties by mishandling the documents and failing to report the leak.
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Featured image adapted from หมอแล็บแพนด้า on Facebook and ziquiu on Canva, for illustration purposes only.