Hospital and doctor may be hauled up over leaked report

Emedia

KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan's leaked medical report could see the doctor and the hospital hauled up for professional misconduct.

Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid, a Myanmar national, will face disciplinary action under the Medical Act 1971 if investigations revealed that he was responsible for the leak.

His employer, Hospital Pusrawi Sdn Bhd, could also find itself in trouble for breach of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998.

The doctor can be reprimanded, suspended or even deregistered while the hospital can be fined and may have its licence revoked.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said no medical record should be made public without the consent of the patient.

"Medical records or patient information should be strictly confidential," Dr Ismail said.

Over the last two years, the Malaysian Medical Council had suspended two doctors for divulging patients' information to third parties. Mohd Saiful was said to have gone to two different hospitals on June 28, the day he lodged a report alleging that he was sodomised by his former boss, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Mohd Saiful's first visit on that day was to Hospital Pusrawi in Jalan Tun Razak at 2pm, where he complained of "tenesmus", a medical term for difficulty in passing motion.

He was examined by Dr Mohamed Osman , the medical officer on duty, who allegedly advised him to seek further treatment at a government hospital. Mohd Saiful then went to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) for a complete examination.

Reports of the medical examination conducted at Hospital Pusrawi, complete with diagrams, were published in two online news websites on Monday. Dr Ismail said: "We will contact the hospital on the authenticity of the medical record which was published."

Dr Ismail declined to elaborate on Dr Mohamed Osman's findings, but stressed that the Health Ministry would stand by the results of the examination conducted at the KLH. Dr Mohamed Osman, in the leaked report, allegedly found "zero active bleeding", "zero ulcer or pus", "zero tear and scar" in Mohd Saiful's anus.

The report "advised" Mohd Saiful to go to a government hospital so as "to rule out" assault and sodomy. The findings of KLH, however, have not been revealed as investigations into the sodomy allegation are still on.