Japan’s hospital data leak hits 180,000 patients and employees

Japan’s National Hospital Organization says hard drives from two hospitals in Hokkaido were listed on auction sites, resulting in a leak of personal information from at least 180,000 patients and employees. The group warns that the leak could potentially affect up to 510,000 people.

Last June, the Hokkaido Medical Center — part of the National Hospital Organization — was notified by an online auction user that a purchased hard drive contained data apparently belonging to the center.

Officials launched an investigation and collected a total of 33 hard drives used to store digital medical records. Of them, 31 belonged to the Hokkaido Medical Center, the other two to the Hokkaido Cancer Center.

The officials confirmed that the devices contained personal information — including names, addresses and medical condition — of at least 186,900 patients and staff members collected up to 2024.

The officials said no illicit use of the data has been confirmed yet.

Both medical institutions hired a waste disposal contractor to destroy and dispose of the hard drives in 2024. The National Hospital Organization has filed a criminal complaint against the contractor.

The organization said it will issue written apologies to the affected patients and set up a consultation desk for their inquiries.

Yaono Shigemichi, who manages the Hokkaido-Tohoku group of the National Hospital Organization, apologized for the anxiety caused by the data leak. He said the organization will take every step possible to ensure this never happens again. NHK