Liow: Doc did not do anything wrong

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The doctor at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital emergency department, who allegedly “did his own thing” instead of attending to patients as claimed by Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk M. Saravanan, has not done anything wrong.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said investigations into Saravanan’s claim found the complaint to be “inaccurate”.
Investigations conducted by the hospital authorities found that the doctor – a houseman – had just concluded examining a patient around 10.40am on April 26.
“He was waiting for the next patient’s card to be sent into his room. While waiting, he merely glanced through the headlines of a newspaper left behind on a trolley by a previous patient.
“Investigations found that at that time, there were only eight patients waiting at the non-critical zone and not 20, as claimed by Saravanan. Three patients were waiting to receive treatment while five others, all asthma patients, were being treated,” Liow told reporters here yesterday.
He said that the rest of the crowd – some 20 people – were family members or those who had sent the patients to the hospital.
On April 27, newspapers published reports quoting an upset Saravanan, who claimed to have caught doctors at the hospital “doing their own thing” instead of attending to patients.
Liow said that when the “incident” occurred between 10am and 11am, the waiting period to see a doctor at the non-critical zone was less than 15 minutes.
“Treatment given by the hospital authorities was appropriate and in line with the key performance indicators,” he said,
“There was no negligence or lack of professionalism on the concerned doctor’s part,” he said.