SINGAPORE \u2013 Doxing and online stalking are among the new threats healthcare workers may face, requiring existing protection measures in the sector to keep evolving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we start seeing more doxing cases, we will probably need to convene a sub-group that looks specifically at… which cases should be escalated immediately (to the Online Safety Commission, or OSC) and which cases should be handled at the hospital level first,\u201d said Chua Hong Choon, co-chairperson of the tripartite workgroup for the prevention of abuse and harassment of healthcare workers.<\/p>\n
Chua, who is also chief executive of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) and Yishun Community Hospital (YCH), spoke to The Straits Times in an interview on Sept 18 to mark the conclusion of the tripartite workgroup, which was set up in 2022.<\/p>\n
The workgroup, which last met in June, comprised representatives from the Ministry of Health (MOH), Healthcare Services Employees\u2019 Union, public healthcare clusters, community care partners and private healthcare providers.<\/p>\n
Its work contributed to the 2023 release of\u00a0the standardised framework<\/span><\/a>\u00a0laying out a common definition of abuse and harassment, as well as a consistent set of standards to safeguard healthcare workers.<\/p>\n Chua said the tripartite framework is a living document that should be updated from time to time to incorporate new measures to protect healthcare workers from new forms of abuse and harassment, particularly online.<\/p>\n He said the newly minted OSC sent representatives to attend the workgroup\u2019s final meeting and shared how healthcare institutions can tap the commission\u2019s services.<\/p>\n The OSC began operations on June 29 and has legal authority to force entities such as platforms and group administrators to quickly remove harmful content<\/span><\/a> through takedown orders. These platforms include Facebook, HardwareZone Forums, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube.<\/p>\n For a start, the OSC is tackling five of the most prevalent and serious online harms: intimate image abuse, image-based child abuse, doxing, online harassment and online stalking.<\/p>\n With the tripartite workgroup standing down on June 30, Chua said a community of practice (COP) will take over. The three public healthcare clusters will take turns organising two to three meetings every year with representatives from the various healthcare institutions and community care partners.<\/p>\n COP members will share how they have dealt with certain difficult cases of abuse and harassment for learning purposes, and will also discuss emerging topics based on what the institutions face.<\/p>\n Under the framework, unsolicited video recordings and stalking of staff are considered harassment incidents that cause moderate harm and distress to healthcare workers. The hospital can take actions such as issuing written warnings and removing the abusive person from the premises.<\/p>\n In one case, a YCH nurse had been harassed by a patient who repeatedly made suggestive remarks and demanded her personal phone number.<\/p>\n Even after his discharge, he continued to stalk her by repeatedly visiting the wards under the guise of visiting another patient whom he befriended during his stay, when he was actually trying to find the nurse.<\/p>\n The hospital eventually blocked his access to the ward and alerted the security team to keep a lookout for him.<\/p>\n Posters and signage in KTPH to remind the public of acceptable behaviour when interacting with healthcare workers.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n YCH also provided counselling support and gave the nurse time away from work to recuperate. As there were concerns for her safety, her supervisors also arranged for her to be escorted home after work daily for a period.<\/p>\n According to MOH figures, there were around 2,200 cases of abuse and harassment in 2023 reported by public healthcare institutions. The number increased to 3,000 in 2024 and spiked another 40% to 4,200 in 2025.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Chua is not alarmed by the increase.<\/p>\n Providing some perspective, he said that the number of reported cases is expected to keep rising because such cases were previously severely under-reported, rather than there being an increase in abusive perpetrators over the years.<\/p>\n An MOH survey conducted in 2022 showed that two-thirds of healthcare workers experienced abuse in the 12 months preceding the survey, but 75% of them did not report the incidents, with some respondents treating abuse and harassment as part and parcel of their care duties.<\/p>\n Chua emphasised that the vast majority of patients and their caregivers genuinely appreciate and respect the healthcare workers, and incidents of abuse and harassment were restricted to a small minority.<\/p>\n KTPH and YCH chief executive Chua Hong Choon said the vast majority of patients and their caregivers genuinely appreciate and respect healthcare workers.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Even if the number of reported cases rises, Chua perceives this as a healthy indication that there is good awareness of what constitutes abuse and harassment, and reflects institutions\u2019 desire to improve the situation.<\/p>\n In the interest of de-escalating and resolving potential conflicts, he said the use of legal measures to protect healthcare workers is a last resort for the workgroup.<\/p>\n A 2025 paper published in Frontiers In Public Health by NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine researchers looked into eight studies conducted in Singapore involving healthcare workers as victims of workplace violence.<\/p>\n Among other things, it suggested stricter legal consequences and public awareness campaigns to tackle the issue.<\/p>\n Currently, perpetrators referred to the police may be charged under the Penal Code or the Protection from Harassment Act. If convicted, they may be liable to a fine and\/or imprisonment.<\/p>\n Chua said the workgroup had discussed pushing for stricter laws, but was worried this would risk pitting patients and caregivers against healthcare workers.<\/p>\n \u201cMore may need to be done if we cannot control the situation, but at this point in time, we realise that with the current laws in place and this approach of trying to promote better relationships and empowering both sides to act responsibly and responsively… (the use of legal measures) is a last resort,\u201d said Chua.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Doxing and online stalking are among the new threats healthcare workers may face, requiring existing protection measures in the sector to keep evolving….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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