Privacy Policy

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY IF YOU WISH TO ACCESS THE SINGHEALTH HEALTH XCHANGE PORTAL (“WEBSITE”). UPON ACCESSING THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO THE PRIVACY POLICY HEREIN.

The Health Xchange service is hosted in Singapore.

Collection of Your Personal Information

  1. We will collect personal information in the following ways:
    • When a user registers an account to become a Website registered user (“Registered User”), he/she will be required to provide certain personal details such as full name, email address, gender, nationality, salutation and a password. See below, “Registration, Personally Identifiable Information (PII)”.
    • When users update their profile with further information about themselves. See below, “Registration, additional and/or non-Personally Identifiable Information”.
    • Using cookies and other technologies to recognize users, customize their experience, and serve targeted messages and advertisements. See below, “Cookies”.
    • When we automatically receive from a user’s (whether registered or not) internet usage information such as his/her IP address, the URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) of referral sites, his/her type of browser and his/her ISP. See below, “Log Files”.

  2. Registration, Personally Identifiable Information (PII): In order to become a Registered User, users must first create an account on the Health Xchange Website (“Website”). To create an account, users are required to provide certain contact information, which the user must recognize and expressly acknowledge as personal information allowing others, including SingHealth, to identify and contact them.

    Users who wish to become a Registered User on the Website also need to state that they will have to agree to the Terms of Use of the Website when becoming a Registered User.

  3. Registration, Additional and/or non-Personally Identifiable Information: When a user becomes a Registered User, they may provide additional information in the Profile section describing their interests, professional experiences, and networking objectives. This is not mandatory. Providing additional information beyond what is required at registration to become a Registered User is entirely optional, but enables them to better identify themselves and find proper context in the Health Xchange community to connect with like-minded individuals.

    In addition, Health Xchange collects other non-PII, including IP address (see “Log Files”), aggregate user data, and browser type (see “Cookies”). This data is used to manage and improve the Website, track usage, and for security purposes.

  4. Cookies: Like most other websites, Health Xchange uses “cookies” and Web log files to track site usage. A “cookie” is a tiny data file which resides on your computer which allows the Website server to recognize a user when they return to the Website using the same computer and web browser. If a user’s browser settings do not allow cookies, they will not be able to use certain elements of the Website including but not limited to:
    • Registration and accessing their profile pages
    • Posting comments on articles and forum threads

  5. Log files: Due to the communications standards on the Internet, when a user visits the Website, we automatically receive the URL of the site from which the users came and the site to which they are headed when they exit the Website. We also receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the users computer (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), the user’s computer operating system and type of Web browser used, browsing patterns, as well as the name of a user’s Internet Service Provider (ISP). This information is used to analyze overall trends to help SingHealth improve the Website. The linkage between a user’s IP address and his/her PII is not shared with third parties except when required by law.

Use of Your Personally Identifiable Information

We employ Registered Users’ PII in the following ways:

  • To allow Registered Users to administer their accounts with us and customize the service we provide to them.
  • To send Registered Users newsletter, health alerts, surveys or promotional communications through email and notices on the Website.

At the time the Registered User provides his/her PII, the Website will notify the Registered User of his/her options regarding his/her use of the PII. Except as described in this Privacy Policy, SingHealth will not share a Registered User’s PII with third parties unless they have given us permission to do so or when required by law.

Use of Your Non-Personally Identifiable and Other General Information

SingHealth may share users’ non-PII with those who help us manage or provide Website information activities including:

  • Message board administration, statistical analyses plus other related data processing activities
  • Marketing agencies and companies who develop targeted advertising and marketing messages for Registered Users

Anonymous click stream, number of page views calculated by pixel tags, and aggregated demographic information may also be shared with the Website’s advertisers and business partners.

SingHealth will inform these third parties that they are prohibited from sharing Registered Users’ non-PII with any third party or from using it for any other purpose.

Managing Your Personal Information

ONLY Registered Users will be permitted to do the following within the Website including:

  • Review, enhance or edit their PII and other optional information through their personal profile page.
  • Choose what information to make available through their public profile.
  • Change their settings to control visibility and accessibility through the Website.
  • Instruct SingHealth administrators to close their account.
  • Instruct SingHealth administrators to reset account passwords on their behalf.

How we Protect Registered User’s Data

SingHealth will take reasonable steps to ensure that Registered Users’ personal data is protected from unauthorised access. Registered Users should ensure that their user identification (ID) and passwords are adequately protected against unauthorised access.

Access to Registered User’s data is password protected. Thus, no other party, except SingHealth authorised staff, can change the ID and password. However, Registered Users must remember to log off from their account and close the browser window after use so that no unauthorised party can have access. Registered Users must not, at any time, divulge their password (or other sensitive user information), and use best efforts not to disclose their password to any third party.

All information gathered by SingHealth is stored in systems that may only be accessed by authorised staff of SingHealth using assigned Registered User IDs and passwords.

Note: The Webiste is linked to sites operated by companies affiliated with SingHealth (i.e., that are part of the SingHealth Affiliates (see definition of Affiliates in the “Terms of Use”). Website users who visit those Affiliated Company websites should still refer to any separate privacy policies and practices of that website, which may differ in some respects from this Privacy Policy.