Singapore legislation
Section 59A
Section 59A
National public health research
(1)
The Director may, if the Director considers it to be in the public interest, from time to time undertake or facilitate any research that the Director thinks is necessary to increase or acquire new knowledge on, or to discover or create new or improved materials, devices, processes or products for the detection, prevention or treatment of —
any infectious disease; or
any other disease which is, or which the appropriate Minister suspects to be, of an infectious nature, and which the appropriate Minister, by notification in the Gazette, declares to be a disease to which this section applies.
(2)
In deciding whether to undertake or facilitate any research under subsection (1), the Director must consider the extent to which all or any of the following factors exist:
whether there is an outbreak or a significant likelihood of an outbreak in Singapore of the disease to which the research relates;
whether the disease to which the research relates poses a substantial risk of a significant number of human fatalities or incidents of serious disability in Singapore; (c)whether the new knowledge that may be acquired or the new or improved materials, devices, processes or products that may be discovered or created as a result of the research will result in any significant public health benefit to Singapore.
(3)
For the purposes of any national public health research, the Director may —
require any person to provide the Director, within such time as the Director may specify, with —
such information in the possession or control of that person as the Director may consider necessary or appropriate; and
any sample (including any human sample) in the possession or control of that person, whether taken pursuant to this Act or otherwise, as the Director may consider necessary or appropriate; (b)require any medical practitioner, over such period as the Director may specify, to obtain, with the requisite consent, such information or samples (including human samples) as the Director may consider necessary or appropriate from the patients under the medical practitioner’s care, and to provide the information or samples to the Director; and
use any other information or samples obtained by the Director under this Act.
(4)
Where any person is required by the Director to furnish any information or human sample under subsection (3), the person must cause the information or human sample to be anonymised before it is furnished to the Director, unless the Director directs otherwise.
(5)
For the purpose of any national public health research, the Director may do all or any of the following:
send any information or sample received by the Director under this Act to a third party to carry out such test, examination or analysis as the Director may consider necessary;
provide any information or sample received by the Director under this Act to a third party who is engaged in any national public health research;
impose any conditions that the Director thinks fit on the third party mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b).
(6)
If the Director is satisfied that any national public health research can be carried out only if any individually‑identifiable information or individually‑identifiable human sample is provided under this section, the Director may require, use, send or provide that individually‑identifiable information or individually‑identifiable human sample under this section for the purposes of the national public health research.
(7)
It shall be an offence for any person —
without reasonable excuse, to refuse to provide any information or sample when required to do so by the Director under subsection (3);
to deliberately identify or attempt to identify, from any anonymised information or human sample received by the person from the Director pursuant to subsection (5), the identity of the individual to whom the information relates or from whom the human sample was obtained; or
to breach any condition imposed under subsection (5).
(8)
In this section —
Definition
“anonymised”, in relation to any information or human sample, means the removal of identifying details from the information or sample so that the identity of the individual from whom the information or sample was obtained cannot be readily discovered or ascertained by the recipient of the information or sample;
Definition
“human sample” means a specimen of any substance or matter obtained from any individual;
Definition
“national public health research” means any research that the Director decides to undertake or facilitate under subsection (1);
Definition
“requisite consent” means —
the consent, given in the prescribed form and manner, of the person from whom any information or sample is to be obtained under subsection (3)(b); or
where the person mentioned in paragraph (a) is unable to give his or her own consent because of age, infirmity of mind or body or any other cause, the consent, given in the prescribed form and manner, of such other individual who is authorised by the regulations to give consent for and on behalf of the person.