Ambulance deaths not recorded

NST: THE Health Ministry does not keep records of deaths in ambulances. Its parliamentary secretary, Datuk Lee Kah Choon, said the ministry did not have such details.
He said the standard operating procedure was to ascertain if a patient was fit to travel from one hospital to another in an ambulance.
His answer stunned Datuk Dr Mohamad Shahrum Osman (BN-Lipis).
"I am shocked that the ministry does not keep records of ambulance deaths."
Shahrum said he sought the statistics as he had read of accident victims dying in ambulances on the way to hospital.
Lee said the ministry did, however, have statistics for ambulances involved in accidents. There were 46 accident cases involving ambulances last year, in which two deaths were recorded.
Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang later told reporters that Lee’s answer was proof that all was not well with the Health Ministry.
"The insensitivity demonstrated in Lee’s answer is unacceptable," he said citing the case of Yusnita Abas, 31, who was pronounced brain-dead upon arrival at the Penang Hospital in October last year after her transfer from the Kepala Batas Hospital was delayed because its ambulances were out of petrol.