Poland’s data protection agency has fined the health ministry 100,000 zloty – the maximum possible penalty – after its head publicly disclosed the private health information of a doctor who had criticised new regulations introduced by the minister.

The minister in question, Adam Niedzielski, was widely criticised in August for revealing that the doctor had prescribed himself psychotropic drugs. Niedzielski resigned soon after and the Law and Justice (PiS) government he was part of left office last month. “The health minister, being the administrator of the data processed in the electronic system, extracted data from it and published it on a social media site,” wrote the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO) when announcing its decision on Friday.

“The entry contained information about a doctor who had given himself a prescription for a psychotropic drug. Thus, the health ministry unlawfully disclosed data about this person’s state of health,” added the statement.