GEORGE TOWN – The Penang government has urged Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to set up a special inquiry committee to investigate the recent sudden death of a trainee doctor who was attached to the general hospital here.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said in a statement that it is important to establish the real cause of the incident and to prevent similar ones from recurring, especially involving trainee doctors in the country.
“In principle, the Health Ministry and the relevant parties must immediately come forward to explain the incident, and at the same time, review and revamp the existing management system if necessary, especially involving the current assignments of doctors in medical institutions now.
“The ministry should not remain silent and let this matter drag on. Appropriate strategies and solutions need to be expedited for the betterment of our country’s healthcare system.”
Chow said this in response to reports two days ago that a houseman died last month after apparently falling from an office building here.
Northeast district police head Soffian Santong did not rule out the possibility of the case being reclassified if fresh evidence comes to light.
The houseman was posted to the hospital just three weeks before his sudden demise. In December 2020, The Vibes reported that another doctor who had resigned from the same hospital had taken his own life.
Alliance of Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, the Penang chapter of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress and the Penang Medical Practitioners’ Association also supported calls for the ministry to launch an investigation into the deaths of two Penang Hospital junior doctors over the past two years.
Former Batu Uban assemblyman Dr T. Jayabalan also proposed a royal commission of inquiry into allegations of bullying and abuse of housemen at the hospital. – The Vibes, May 5, 2022
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