Mikhy Brochez showed ‘good grasp’ of subject during job interviews, cleared pre-employment checks: MOE
Brochez, who made headlines recently for leaking the confidential data of 14,200 HIV-positive patients from the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) database, had taught early childhood studies and psychology studies at Temasek Polytechnic from February 2009 to January 2011.
SINGAPORE — The Education Ministry had conducted pre-employment checks on American fraudster Mikhy Farrera Brochez before he began teaching at polytechnics here, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Low Yen Ling in Parliament on Tuesday (26 Feb).
Ms Low said that the ministry had verified copies of Brochez’s educational certificates against the original documents and he had demonstrated “a good grasp” of the subject during his job interviews.
While Temasek Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic had incorporated more stringent checks, Ms Low added that there is no system that is able to exhaustively keep out those who are out to lie and cheat. While employers can verify education certificates with the issuing institutions, there are practical limits to such checks.
“Some overseas institutions may not provide the confirmation, citing privacy reasons. We are also mindful of not going to the extreme, and risking losing out on valuable talent,” she added.
As such, performance appraisals and regular monitoring of job performances remained important, said Ms Low.
Brochez, who made headlines recently for leaking the confidential data of 14,200 HIV-positive patients from the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) database, had taught early childhood studies and psychology studies at Temasek Polytechnic from February 2009 to January 2011.
He was also an adjunct lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic for six months. The polytechnics were informed by the authorities of his forged certificates in 2016.
Responding to Ms Low, Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency (GRC), said that it was “strange” that the polytechnics had checked the copies of Brochez’s certificates against the original documents.
“If the original is already falsified, then you are just checking a false document against another false document,” she said.
The MP added that there needed to be more robust processes for hiring institutions to check with the institutions that conferred the certificates. Employers could also conduct character reference checks on the candidate, for instance.
Dr Intan also asked the Ministry of Education (MOE) if Brochez had been allowed to set up a child psychology clinic in Temasek Polytechnic — as reported in some alternative news sites — and if the clinic had given him access to children.
In response, Ms Low said she is not sure if he had access to children but that Brochez’s work “was confined to delivering the modules”. Since the incident, both polytechnics had incorporated more stringent checks, including verifying educational certificates with the issuing institutions. Since 2014, all five polytechnics have been conducting reference checks based on the referees indicated in the applicant’s application.
Ms Low added that MOE will continue to work closely with the polytechnics to strengthen their recruitment processes.
INTEGRITY OF BLOOD TESTS
Senior Minister of State for Health and Transport Lam Pin Min also stressed on Tuesday that there are processes in place to ensure the integrity of blood tests during medical screenings.
This was in response to Dr Intan’s query on whether there are stricter measures in place to ensure that blood tests cannot be forged for employment purposes.
Brochez, who is HIV-positive, had previously swapped his blood samples with that of his partner, Singaporean doctor Ler Teck Siang, in order to pass blood tests so that he could gain and retain his employment pass.
Dr Lam said that the patient’s identity is verified at several points during a blood test, such as when the blood tests are ordered, when the blood is drawn and when the blood specimens are labelled.
Labelled specimens are also checked against the identity of the patient recorded in the laboratory test request forms when they are dispatched and received by testing laboratories.
“For HIV tests, testing laboratories only accept patients or blood specimens with a referral from a registered medical practitioner. Any direct request by employment agencies, employers or prospective employees for employment purposes would be rejected by the HIV testing laboratory,” said Dr Lam.
Dr Lam added that doctors who committed fraud involving blood tests or forgery of blood test results would be “dealt with sternly” under the Penal Code and doctors had to adhere to the Singapore Medical Council’s code of conduct.
