The former prime minister, Hon Siaosi Sovaleni, has urged urgent government accountability following last week’s cyber attack on the Ministry of Health’s National Health Information System (NHIS), which remains offline.
Sovaleni raised concerns in parliament about the potential compromise of residents’ personal health records. “People need to know whether their personal medical information has been taken by others,” he said.
The ransomware assault, detected on 15 June, encrypted the NHIS and took all four of Tonga’s national hospitals offline, forcing manual record‑keeping. Police Minister Paula Piukala told MPs the ransom demand ran into the “millions”.
Health Minister Dr Ana ‘Akau’ola confirmed that while hackers assured MPs they “won’t damage the information”, it’s unclear if data has been stolen. She apologised and said hospitals now rely on patients presenting medical or prescription cards.
Australia dispatched a cybersecurity team last Friday to assist local staff in restoring the NHIS. Police Minister Piukala criticised the absence of a backup system, calling the breach a wake‑up call for digital resilience.
Australia‑led experts continue work to regain system control and determine whether private data was exfiltrated. Anticipate further updates as recovery progresses.
