17 Korean hospitals leaked almost 200,000 patient data to pharmas

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Committee (PIPC) has investigated 17 university hospitals for allegedly leaking patient information to pharmaceutical companies. It was found that hospital staff had sent patient information via email or flash drives, resulting in the leak of approximately 185,271 patients’ data. The hospitals have been fined KRW 64.8 million ($50,500) and ordered to improve their data protection measures. The police are also conducting investigations into possible criminal liability. This comes after a recent large-scale data breach at Seoul National University Hospital.