KUALA LUMPUR – A Malaysian doctor practising medicine in Australia has issued an apology over a Facebook post concerning a transgender patient, stressing that he did not impose his beliefs on the patient at any time.
“I would like to apologise if my previous post caused tremendous upset among netizens,” said Dr Shaiful Aizad.
“The post was not intended to downgrade any person or patient, but rather to tell a story of my quest to try and understand more deeply why people choose to do what they like to do,” he said in a new Facebook post today.
Earlier today, Dr Shaiful uploaded a post about an encounter he had with a patient who happens to be a transgender.
He mentioned that he asked several personal questions to the patient, including his marital status, friendships, and why he chose to transition.
He later deleted the post, saying it was to avoid debates.
Dr Shaiful, former president of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia’s Australian branch, now says that those were questions normally asked by doctors to understand patients.
“The patient was not in any way upset, sceptical, or angry, and willingly gave me the information himself (sic),” he explained.
He added that he did not force his beliefs upon his patient at any time.
“I do feel sorry if the information I shared, or the example I chose, have upset a certain minority group or anyone. I just want to re-emphasise that the post was not intentionally uploaded to upset anyone, but (instead) to share my own experience in trying to further understand human choice and behaviour,” Shaiful added. – The Vibes, January 20, 2021
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