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Don't believe those flyers, says Ismail |
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 09:08am |
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©New
Straits Times (Used by permission)
PETALING JAYA: A flyer is just that. It cannot be used to make a diagnosis or
confirm whether anyone is a victim of sexual abuse, director-general of Health
Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said.
He was commenting on a flyer which claimed that Mohd Saiful
Bukhari Azlan, 23, who alleged he was sodomised by Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was not a victim.
It is being circulated not only in Permatang Pauh but nationwide.
Dr Ismail, who received a copy of the flyer last week, said it was not confirmed
if Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid of Pusrawi Hospital was the author of the
original report.
"The doctor must come forward and say that he is the one who has written it...
but he can't be contacted."
(Dr Osman was the first doctor to examine Mohd Saiful.)
Dr Ismail said, among others, the flyer said the examining doctor wanted a
second examination to rule out assault and sodomy
"This means you have to rule it out... it does not confirm anything," he said.
"Of course, the doctor has put his findings there and we respect his findings.
"He is the person who examined (the patient) and we do not question his findings
but at the end of the day, he advised the person to go to the Kuala Lumpur
Hospital."
Distributing flyers with minimal information based on the initial findings of a
"missing" doctor was wrong.
Dr Ismail was responding to questions about the flyer after the opening of the
national regulatory conference by Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai.
On whether Pusrawi Hospital had submitted its report on the leak of the medical
report, Dr Ismail said it still had some time before the deadline.
When told that the public had lost confidence in Pusrawi Hospital, Dr Ismail
said: "The hospital is to be blamed if people feel insecure about going there.
Hospitals must ensure the security of patients' records."
Asked whether the Malaysian Medical Council would act against the doctor and the
hospital, he said they could not because there were no complainants and it had
not been ascertained that the hospital had breached the Private Healthcare
Facilities and Services Act.
At the opening of the conference, Liow urged the pharmaceutical industry to
ensure safe and quality medicines for Malaysians.
He cautioned the people against using unapproved drugs flooding the market.
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