How Ler Teck Siang got access to National HIV registry
When Ler Teck Siang applied for the job of leading the National Public Health Unit (NPHU), only two qualifications were required.
According to the advertisement printed in The Straits Times in Oct 2011, applicants needed a basic medical degree with at least a conditional registration with the Singapore Medical Council, and at least two years of clinical experience.
Ler got the job in March 2012. It was in his capacity as head of the NPHU that the doctor accessed the HIV Registry.
He is currently embroiled in the data leak that has left 14,200 HIV positive individuals and their personal data vulnerable.
According to the advertisement, the responsibilities of the head of the NPHU included monitoring and reporting on the HIV epidemic in Singapore and the analysis of HIV transmission patterns.
The head of the NPHU also reviews existing HIV surveillance systems and proposes the implementation of new ones when necessary, along with overseeing the HIV contact tracing and partner notification programme.
The NPHU maintains the National HIV Registry.
A Ministry of Health (MOH) spokesman said the unit was also responsible for carrying out public health measures such as data analysis, contact tracing and enforcement of legal orders under the Infectious Diseases Act.
MOH told The New Paper yesterday that when Ler was head of the NPHU, he was overseeing 11 staff members.
Ler remained in the role until May 2013. He resigned in January 2014.
In 2015, the unit put out another advertisement in The Straits Times with updated prerequisites.
As in the 2011 advertisement, only two qualifications were required, but this time they were a Master of Public Health degree and at least five years of experience working in public health.
The new advertisement stated: "The NPHU performs epidemiological and operational functions related to the control of HIV and Tuberculosis (TB)".
The unit, which started in 2008, was located at 142 Moulmein Road beside the old Communicable Disease Centre, and has since been renamed the National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit (NPHEU), and is part of the new National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
According to NCID's website, "the NPHEU works closely with members of the public, patients, healthcare professionals and institutions, researchers and scientists, MOH and other governmental organisations, to protect Singaporeans against communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance".
Recent cases of degree fraud
Degrees from Vanderbilt University, a doctorate from the Sorbonne, and a teaching certificate from Kentucky state in the United States. American Mikhy Farrera Brochez, 34, had none of these, but he had forged the certificates and used them to obtain teaching positions here over a period of eight years.
Higher Education Degree Datacheck, an official service in the United Kingdom that verifies academic degrees, lists three main types of degree fraud - bogus universities and degree mills, fake certificate websites and individual fraud.
Recent cases of degree fraud:
2018
A lawyer, now 30, was fined S$10,000 last year and disbarred this year for falsifying her law degree certificate and transcript twice to improve her chances of getting a job.
2015
A business school owner here was sentenced to five and a half years in jail after he cheated some $2.2 million from hundreds of students by selling fake degree programmes.
2014
NUS was forced to relook its recruitment process after a former medicine faculty member was found to have faked his credentials. A pre-appointment review of his work by West Virginia University in 2012 revealed the fraud.
2013
A man, then 34, was jailed for a year after he was found to have bought fake degrees in human resource management from the Florida International University online for about $8,000.
2012
Hired in January 2012 as Yahoo's chief executive, Scott Thompson left the company just four months later after he was found to have embellished his academic credentials.
He claimed to have computer science and accounting degrees from Stonehill College when he only had the accounting degree. - KOK YUFENG
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