JOHOR BARU: Johor Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat has called on the Health Ministry to take legal action against a Singaporean news portal for making the baseless claim that negligence on the part of local health authorities contributed to the death of a citizen of the republic in the state.
Ayub said he was saddened by the report and that it has affected the morale of the state Health Department's personnel.
“I urge all quarters to respect the profession (of those) in the healthcare sector, especially in Johor, by not painting a negative picture of it,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
The news portal’s report alleged that a 25-year-old Singaporean man, who was involved in a road accident here on Aug 25, had to wait up to 30 minutes for an ambulance from the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) to arrive.
It also claimed that HSA staff then demanded a deposit from the victim’s family before treating the patient, who eventually died.
Hospital records of response times to the incident and testimony from HSA workers contradict the report’s allegations.
“Basically, it has been a practice by the emergency department staff of all government hospitals not to ask for a deposit before any treatment for critical cases, including for foreigners.
“Therefore, I deny that the (death) case was due to the delay of the ambulance or payment issue,” said Ayub. — BERNAMA