Authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said Tuesday they launched an investigation into the recent cases of patient data loss and will inspect the Hospital Authority's personal data system.

In addition to recent cases announced by the Health Department and the Hospital Authority, the Prince of Wales Hospital also lost a flash drive containing the personal data of 10,000 patients, the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data said.

A staff member at the hospital could not recall if she had deleted the data stored on the flash drive. For the sake of security, the hospital reported the case to the police and the commissioner. The hospital has received no enquiries.

The stored files were mainly general working documents containing patients' names, identity numbers and laboratory test data, the commissioner's office said.

Commissioner Roderick Woo said, due to public concern, he has ordered immediate action to be taken under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to secure patient data.

Repeated data loss cases, with some involving details of patients, have been reported in Hong Kong since late April.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2008)