Materia Medica Malaysiana

Critical shortage of forensic pathologists

Malaysia needs at least 50 forensic pathologists but has only 19. Five States have none, said a health official.

When a forensic pathologist is required, one of the four on the Kuala Lumpur Hospital's staff is flown out, the official told the New Straits Times. The shortage has reached a critical stage, due to growing workloads and the need for more detailed examinations of bodies, said the official, who declined to be named.

This situation reflects Ipoh High Court judge Datuk V.T. Singham's recent comment that he had dealt with three murder cases where a pathologist had not been available to conduct post- mortems on the victims.

In the latest case, decided on Wednesday, of a mother accused of strangling her five-year-old daughter, the time of death could not be determined because there was no forensic pathologist at the Ipoh Hospital.

Yesterday, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said there were enough forensic pathologists, and each State had a chief pathologist who was assisted by pathologists from other disciplines.

Forensic pathologists are specialists trained to examine bodies for trauma and to determine cause, manner or mechanism of death.

The health official said there were no forensic pathologists in Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Sarawak and Negri Sembilan. Of the four on KLH's staff, one is on long leave.

Pahang's forensic pathologist is overseas; Sabah, the second largest State, has only one.

In Sarawak, the largest State, a haematologist, who specialises in blood examinations, is sometimes roped in for forensic work.

Selangor, the most populated State, has three forensic pathologists, while the other three States have one each.

The official said Malaysia also needed more lecturers in forensic pathology.

Aside from handling post-mortem, criminal investigations and court appearances, forensic pathologists serving in hospitals also teach in universities.

Malaysia should have at least one pathologist for every 75,000 people, or about 330 pathologists of all disciplines, according to the Malaysian Academy of Medicine's College of Pathologists.

It has just 217, both working in government hospitals and teaching, said its president, Professor Lai-Meng Looi.

Australia, with a population of 20 million, has 1,290 pathologists.

"We are short of pathologists and overloaded with work," contended Dr Looi.

Most of the country's 217 pathologists are involved in diagnostics, and most of them were histopathologists who analyse tissue from living patients.

"Forensic pathologists are the smallest group," she added.