S’pore Man Jailed Four Months For Lying About Sex History & Donated HIV-Positive Blood

I know how you always fill in the declaration form. Mindlessly tick no, then sign.

Even though it’s a crime if you declare false information, you feel safe because you signed for things you knowingly know to be true.

In other words, if your auntie has a history of diabetes, you didn’t know anyway. So not my fault, right?

Well, no.

Man Who Donates Regularly

Meet Mr A (he was not identified in the reports). He’s a good samaritan and knows that the blood bank needs blood to save a countless number of patients.

The 35-year-old gentleman has donated blood five times previously and there were no issues with his blood.

However, it was on his sixth time that something happened.

He found out that he is HIV-positive.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, he got into trouble for it too.

The False Declaration

On his sixth bloodletting excursion, he went to a Health Sciences Authority (HSA) blood donation drive at Tzu Chi Foundation Jing Si Hall on 30 Sep 2017.

As a requirement, he had to fill in a donor health assessment questionnaire before he can do so.

Male donor: Have you ever engaged in sexual activity with another male? No.

Have you engaged in sexual activity with anyone you have known for less than six months in the past year? No.

Even when a medical screener interviewed him and caution against giving false answers, he kept to his stand.

Then, when his blood was tested, it was found that he was HIV-positive.

A Confession & His Sentence

Initially, the man insisted that he did not participate in any risk activities or had sexual intercourse before.

However, he confessed to multiple sexual occurrences later to the interviewer and a Ministry of Health (MOH) officer.

He was sentenced to four months’ jail and fined $10,000 for his false declaration.

His actions could’ve resulted in “serious harm to public health and safety”, especially if the disease was transmitted to innocent patients via blood infusion.

His lawyer pleaded for leniency, stating that he would not be able to pay the fine.

Now, the burning question: was the blood used?

No One Received The Blood

Thankfully, HSA has measures to check the donated blood for suitability to be transfused into patients before they put it into the blood bank.

A spokesperson for the HSA said that the blood was separated and destroyed immediately and that none of it was given to patients.

Moral of the Story:

Practise safe sex. And never, ever make a false declaration because the consequences (if it happens) will definitely get you into deep trouble.

Unless you’re an NUS undergrad with good GPA lah. That’s a totally different ball game.