Our Health Minister's response on the alleged 'goofing off' of KLH's A&E doctors

From NST Online 29.4.2009 2018h

KLH doctor accused of malingering was simply waiting for next patient
By : Annie Freeda Cruez

PUTRAJAYA, Wed:
A Kuala Lumpur Hospital doctor accused of “goofing off” was simply reading a newspaper while waiting for his next patient, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said today.

The visibly upset minister said Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk M. Saravanan should have investigated the incident before hurling accusations.

Liow said an in depth investigation revealed that the doctor, a houseman, had completed examining a patient and had picked up the newspaper his patient had left behind. “The houseman was reading the headlines when Saravanan walked in,” he said.

Liow said there were only eight patients at the time of incident at the non-critical zone of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s Emergency Department and not 20 as claimed by Saravanan.

“Three of them were waiting to be seen while the rest were asthmatics who were being treated. The others in the room were the relatives of the patients,” Liow told reporters at his ministry.

Saravanan on Sunday claimed that he was at the department about 10.30am to see a university student who was knocked down by a car driven by his driver.

He said he was waiting for the girl to be treated and realised that none of the patients were being called in by the doctors, and when he opened the door to a treatment room found a doctor reading a newspaper and another “doing his own stuff”.

Liow said a girl by the name of M. Revathy, 23, was treated at the non critical zone about 9.25am following a road accident.“The girl was examined and treated by 10.10am. Even an X-ray was performed on her leg to ascertain fractures but she suffered none,” he said.

He said after performing the necessary procedures on her leg and prescribing medication, Ravathy was placed on a wheelchair at the Emergency Department.

“It was at 10.40am that Saravanan entered the treatment room and reprimanded the doctors, accusing one of them for reading a newspaper while some 20 people were waiting outside to be seen,” Liow said.

Liow added that patients normally waited about 15 minutes in the non-critical zone to see a doctor.

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There's always at least 2 sides to any story. Jumping to conclusions and acting irrationally and worse, exposing your own lack of objectivity and thoroughness to national mainstream print & electronic media without checking the facts first is hardly an act one would like to associate with a minister or deputy minister.

It's a wake-up call for myself as well. I must remember not too be too quick to judge others and start pointing fingers. Its wiser to try and see the big picture. If something doesn't look good, there are ways to settle things amicably, without too much drama. After all, it shouldn't be a witch hunt. There are ways to make an existing system better by consensus and in the spirit of common good and continuous improvement.


Ciao!
Amir Fuad.