It has been revealed in a recent report that there has been a laptop and USB stick missing from the Vancouver General Hospital. This has been reported as a major security breach case because it had the information of about
430 patients of the hospital.

The laptop belonged to a medical resident doctor from the team, while he had gone to a conference in Toronto. It is one of the main priorities of the hospital to secure the personal information of the patients and there is need for absolute protection of the same. This is why this issue cannot be taken lightly.

What is surprising is that the doctor reported the case to the authorities after 12 days from when he had lost his laptop. This might have given the possible thief enough time to slip out of reach.

Though there was a security password on the laptop, there was no encryption and this is what is worrying.

There was need for immediate action after the loss of the laptop, so that it could be recovered. The time lapse has caused trouble for the team and they might never be able to locate the laptop. There are investigations being conducted nonetheless and the authorities are of the hope of finding leads soon.

Health professionals need to be extremely careful about the safety of the vital information of the patients they carry. There is need for keeping their personal data safe. The loss of the laptop should've been reported earlier.

"It is possible that the resident was not entirely aware of our policy and guidelines. He was not a regular employee, so had not gone through our orientation in this regard", said Gavin Wilson, Director of public affairs at Vancouver Coast Health.