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.

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Full telecast will cost govt RM100,000 a day

E-media

6 May 2008

FULL telecasts of Parliament sittings will cost the government RM100,000 a day, Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabeery Cheek said yesterday.

He said this in a written reply to questions by Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bukit Bendera) and Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli (Pas-Kuala Krai).

Shabeery said the move to telecast the proceedings of the Dewan Rakyat starting from April 30 without any vetting was proof of the openness and transparency of the government in line with the country's democratic practice.

"The current 30-minute live telecast during the question and answer session was also broadcast by Radio Klasik and is streamed live through the ministry's web portal," Ahmad Shabeery said.

He added that his ministry was prepared to extend the live telecast to cover the debates provided there was positive feedback from the people. Ahmad Shabeery said he was pleased with the way the Members of Parliament had conducted themselves yesterday during Question Time compared to the much maligned session last Wednesday.

The Information Ministry last week threatened to stop the telecast when only three questions were dealt with in the one and half hours allotted for the question and answer session, which was overshadowed by shouting and name calling among the MPs. Shabeery said it was too early for the government to decide to extend the live telecast based on a single day's sitting that went smoothly.

"For the time being, the trial run is still on going. "There is still another two or three weeks for the sitting to go on. "We will decide after that," he said.

He said the criteria for continuing the live telecasts was that it must be for the betterment of the country and the people. "We do not mind the elected representatives being rowdy when it comes to debating or discussing issues which are relevant. "Not like last time (last Wednesday) where, they were only discussing standing orders and trivial matters."

Meanwhile, Liew in a separate statement said the decision to broadcast parliamentary proceedings should be left to MPs to decide through the parliamentary select committee. "Ahmad Shabeery should bear in mind that MPs are not schoolboys and should not be treated in a patronising manner. "It is also presumptuous of the minister to denigrate his parliamentary colleagues in such a manner."

Liew suggested that the live telecast be extended to the full one and half hours of the question and answer session. He said the ministry should allocate a dedicated radio frequency and Internet portal to carry the entire proceedings.

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Anything's possible in politics... so what's next?

E-media News

22 Apr 2008

Sharanjit Singh

IT looks like Datuk Lee Kah Choon just cannot stay out of the spotlight.

Just last month, he was touted to become the next chief minister of Penang.

However, as fate would have it, he ended up with nothing as Gerakan was thrashed in the general election and lost Penang to its arch enemy the DAP, which has since gone on to form the state government with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

The former Gerakan deputy secretary-general subsequently had a falling out with the leadership and has since quit all his party posts. Just when everyone thought it was the end of his political career, Lee bounced back with the shocking announcement by the new state government that he had been appointed director of Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and investPenang. The appointment was received with mixed feelings by various quarters, with some, especially those from Gerakan, describing Lee's acceptance of the posts as doublecrossing the party.

However, none of the Gerakan leaders have come out publicly to condemn Lee and all of them have not responded to repeated attempts by pressmen for their comments. Only Gerakan adviser, Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, has offered his best wishes to Lee so far. Although Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng sees it as an appointment of the best to lead two of the most important state agencies, others are more sceptical.

Some DAP leaders have privately voiced their reservations about bringing in a former enemy to head important agencies like the PDC and investPenang. "I personally have my reservations about the whole thing," an elected DAP representative said. "It makes us look bad, especially among the grassroots members who have been working hard all these years only to see others being rewarded." The appointment has also been interpreted as an attempt by the DAP-PKR to lure capable leaders from Barisan Nasional to switch camps.

State BN leaders fear certain individuals may find it difficult to reject plum offers from the new state leadership. This is more so as Penang is set to undergo a major transformation once projects planned under the Ninth Malaysia Plan get implemented. "The time is just right for DAP-PKR to tempt those who had lost everything to abandon the BN and join them. "We cannot dismiss such a possibility and the BN leadership needs to deal with those who switch camps now severely... we will be faced with a major problem if it is not done immediately," a state Umno leader said.

Apart from Lee, three Umno assemblymen have also been offered seats in various state administrative committees. However, the three - Sungai Acheh's Datuk Mahmud Zakaria, Seberang Jaya's Datuk Ariff Shah Omar Shah and Pulau Betong's Muhammad Farid Saad - have rejected the offers, claiming they were a political trap. State Umno liaison committee secretary and state opposition chief Datuk Azhar Ibrahim said the party had expected the new state government to make such a move. However, he said the party's involvement in the state administration would make it difficult for its members to debate any motion tabled at the state legislative assembly. It is now left to be seen if Lee's appointment would also mark the beginning of an exodus of BN leaders to the Pakatan Rakyat camp.

This is especially so if the offers are too good to reject and as Lee himself put it, "anything is possible in politics".

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Pas open to Umno members, says Nik Aziz

Emedia News

11 Apr 2008


KOTA BARU: Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat yesterday said Pas would be open to offers from any disgruntled Umno members, including Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, to either make a pact with it or join the party.

He said pacts made for political reasons are allowed in Islam.

However, he said Umno members who wish to join Pas would have to undergo a cooling-off period of several years to enable them to understand the party's struggle. "Let them give talks at our ceramah for a couple of years. Then they can come in as members. They can't just join us as we are not like a garbage can. "Political pacts are different Joining Pas is different. In Islam, there is a specific method that we must follow," he said after meeting a group from CNMC Goldmine Limited from China. The company is due to start a gold-mining venture in Sokor, Tanah Merah soon.

Nik Aziz, who is Pas' spiritual advisor, said the party's success in recapturing the state in 1990 was due to the pact it made with the now-defunct Umno splinter party, Semangat 46, which was helmed by Tengku Razaleigh. The pact eventually fell through following Semangat 46's decision to join Umno. "One of the reasons why we (Pas) got Kelantan was because of our co-operation with Semangat 46. Although they left us after that, it was their decision. We did not chase them or push them away. Semangat 46 wanted out."

He said the current "pakatan rakyat" it has with Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP could function as a way to streamline the various views in administering the five states under the alliance. This was to avoid misunderstanding. On the controversy over the RM100 million modern pig farming project in Selangor, Nik Aziz felt the issue should not be blown out of proportion as Islam allows non-Muslims to continue to consume pork and alcohol. "In Kelantan, we allow shops selling pork and alcohol as long as the business does not disturb others. If Selangor wants to approve the project, that is their right."

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