SINGAPORE — He treated Mikhy K Farrera Brochez while the American was in jail for charges including lying about his human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status to gain an employment pass in Singapore.

Now, infectious disease specialist Leong Hoe Nam is shocked to learn about the “bewildering” accusations levelled at him by Brochez in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Feb 13), saying that the allegations “(go) against the very fabric of our values (as doctors)”.

Dr Leong, who practises at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said: “Medical confidentiality and patient care were always at the top of our minds… I strongly object to what Mikhy has alleged and am disappointed at how he can do the very thing he said he stood against — data breach and patients’ confidentiality.” 

Brochez put up several Facebook posts making a string of allegations about the Singapore authorities as well as Dr Leong.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said last month that Brochez was behind the recent leak of confidential information on 14,200 HIV-positive individuals as well as 2,400 of their contacts. The records spanned almost three decades, from 1985 up to January 2013.

Brochez was sentenced to 28 months’ jail in 2016 after pleading guilty to fraud and drug-related offences. His partner, Ler Teck Siang, was the former head of the MOH’s National Public Health Unit and had access to the HIV Registry.

In one of his Facebook posts, Brochez alleged that Dr Leong gave him a list of HIV-positive inmates while treating him in prison. Brochez, who was deported from Singapore in April 2018 after serving his sentence, claimed that he left prison with the list.

Brochez also alleged that Dr Leong was “overly stressed from all the political pressures on him” and had originally told Brochez after a blood test that he was not HIV-positive.

In response, Dr Leong said that he has never had a copy of the HIV Registry.

There is “very tight security” in the prisons and he is not allowed to pass inmates anything, including HIV-related reading materials, without the Singapore Prison Service’s approval, he said.

To tell his patients any results, he had to get them to commit it to memory, because writing on their hands or giving them a copy of the results is not possible, Dr Leong added.

A nurse is always present, and Dr Leong said that at least three prison officers accompanied Brochez whenever he treated the inmate.

“There was no way I could sneak him a scrap of paper, let alone a registry or a thumb-drive,” he said.

“I attended to him as a Singapore prison doctor. He had an illness for which I am a specialist. Both the prison service and myself discharged our duties fully and with no bias or stigma,” Dr Leong added. “In short, Mikhy had baseless accusations and fabricated a bewildering story against me.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY WONG PEI TING AND KENNETH CHENG