A 35-year-old Singaporean man lied about his sexual history when he was filling up a form before donating blood. It then turns out that he was HIV-positive and that he had donated the contaminated blood to a blood donation drive.
The man, whose identity cannot be revealed due to a gag order, was sentenced to four months in jail and fined S$10,000 (RM30,337) on 2nd October for making false declarations under the Infectious Diseases Act.
According to CNA, the man had donated blood five times prior to the incident. His blood tested HIV-negative during those times, but on his sixth donation at Tzu Chi Foundation Jing Si Hall on 30th September 2017, his blood was found to be infected.
Source: BBC
In the health assessment questionnaire that he had to fill up before the donation, the man answered “no” to these two questions:
- Male donor: Have you ever engaged in sexual activity with another male?
- Have you engaged in sexual activity with anyone you have known for fewer than six months in the past year?
He then declared that his answers were true.
After completing the questionnaire, a medical screener interviewed him and told him that “he could be prosecuted for an offence if he had given any false or misleading answers”, and when he was found to be HIV-positive, he was interviewed again to find if he had any HIV risk factors.
Source: MD Mag
Legal assistant director at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Jason Lee said, “during the interview, the man claimed that he had never had sexual intercourse before and insisted that he did not participate in any risk activities”.
However, the man finally confessed to a MOH public health officer that he had sex with a male foreign worker he met in a public place in June 2017. He also had many sexual encounters with several strangers in the Philippines and sexual intercourse with a man in a toilet cubicle in Causeway Point – a shopping mall in Singapore.
Source: Very Well Health
Because false information was provided in relation to blood donations which can result in serious harm to public health and safety, the prosecution asked for the sentence.
“In particular, if the donated blood is infected with HIV, there is risk that the disease may be transmitted through blood infusion to innocent recipients,” he said.
Source: CNA
On the other hand, the defence said that the client would not be able to pay the fine and asked for a lenient sentence.
Health Sciences Authority said that the donated blood was “immediately isolated and destroyed”.
“None of the donated blood was transfused to patients.”
Lying about your sexual history when donating something as important is blood is such a serious crime. Good thing his contaminated blood was destroyed.
Also read: 6 Men Get Infected With HIV After Having Sex With M’sian Man Who Lied that He Tested Negative
