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Parliament to hear Ministerial Statements on SingHealth cyberattack and NS training death

(PHOTO: Singapore Parliament/Yahoo News Singapore)
(PHOTO: Singapore Parliament/Yahoo News Singapore)

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that both servicemen Dave Lee and Gavin Chan were posthumously promoted. This is incorrect – only Lee was promoted following his death.

Two separate ministerial statements on the cyberattack against SingHealth’s IT system and a recent National Service (NS) training-related death will be read out in Parliament on Monday (6 August).

The Minister for Health and the Minister for Communications and Information will deliver the statement on the SingHealth data breach. The Minister for Defence will read out the statement on the NS training death – his second on the issue in recent months.

The parliamentary session comes after the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) issued a joint statement on 20 July to say that the personal particulars of about 1.5 million patients, including that of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, were stolen from SingHealth’s database in a recent “deliberate and well-planned cyberattack”.

A Committee of Inquiry had been set up to look into the data breach that took place on or around 27 June, MCI said on 24 July.

In May, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen read out his Ministerial Statement on the recent deaths of two full-time national servicemen (NSF) during their training.

Ng was then giving details on the circumstances, investigations and safety measures taken in relation to the deaths of Corporal First Class (CFC) Lee Han Xuan Dave in April and Third Sergeant (3SG) Gavin Chan last year.

On 30 April this year, CFC Lee, a 19-year-old Guardsman from the 1st Battalion Singapore Guards, succumbed to his heat injuries and died after taking part in an 8-kilometre fast march in Bedok Camp on 18 April.

On 15 September last year, SGT Chan was participating in Exercise Wallaby at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia, when a Bionix Infantry Fighting Vehicle he was guiding out of difficult terrain landed on its side. The 21-year-old later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead on the same day in hospital.

Members of Parliament (MPs) have submitted a total of 19 questions on the SingHealth saga, ranging from the investigation to uncover the culprits behind the cyberattack, the remedial steps being taken to prevent a recurrence of the data breach, to the potential impact on Singapore’s Smart Nation plans.

MPs have also filed eight questions to address the issues arising from the Ministry of Defence’s (Mindef) rejection of the application by Singaporean footballer Benjamin Davis, who had signed a professional contract with English Premier League club Fulham, to defer his NS. Their questions range from whether Mindef has considered Davis’ potential contributions to Singapore’s football scene in future to whether deferments can be granted to outstanding athletes from team sports.

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