DAP will lodge the
first formal complaint to the newly-established Patient Safety Council
against Health Minister unless Chua Jui Meng gives a satisfactory reply to
serious allegation that he had mishandled the worst dengue epidemic in the
nation's history
Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
(Petaling Jaya,
Saturday):
Yesterday, the Health Minister, Datuk Chua Chui Meng inaugurated the Patient
Safety Council of Malaysia to identify latent problems, human errors,
failures and weaknesses in the existing health care system as studies have
shown that many of the problems could have been prevented.
Problems include "adverse events" where injuries were caused by medical
management (rather than the underlying disease or condition of the patient)
that prolonged admission or produced disability at the time of discharge.
Chua said: "We need to strengthen our health care system in public and
private hospitals nationwide for the safety of patients."
Chua cannot be more right, especially as he is the subject of the most
serious allegation of the mishandling of the worst dengue epidemic in the
nation's history and manipulation of statistics of dengue cases and deaths
to mislead Parliament and the people and downplay the true gravity of the
dengue epidemic raging in the country.
The majority of the dengue deaths in the dengue epidemic, which exceeds the
century mark, were unnecessary and avoidable if the Health Ministry had
complied with efficient anti-dengue preventive and management techniques.
All Chua needs to know how badly he had failed is to look at how Singapore
responded to the World Health Organisation (WHO) global dengue alert last
July of a possible dengue epidemic in southeast Asia and warning the
governments in the region to take pro-active preventive measures.
DAP will lodge a formal complaint to the newly-established Patient Safety
Council against the Health Minister unless Chua turns up personally in
Parliament on Monday during the winding-up of the debate on the Royal
Address and give a satisfactory reply to the serious allegation that he had
mishandled the worst dengue epidemic in the nation's history, manipulated
dengue statistics to mislead Parliament and the nation and must be held
responsible for the long list of unnecessary and avoidable dengue fatalities
after the WHO global dengue alert last July.
The 30
members of the council comprise senior ministry officials, representatives
from government hospitals, university hospitals, Gleneagles Oncology Centre,
maternity clinics, Malaysian Pharmaceutical Association, Academy of Medicine
Malaysia, Malaysian Medical Association, Association of Private Hospitals
Malaysia, Malaysian Society for Quality in Healthcare, Federation of
Malaysian Consumer Association, University Malaya Medical Centre and
Malaysian Medical Council. It is chaired by Health director general Tan Sri
Dr Mohamad Taha Arif.
Should
the report to the Patient Safety Council against Health Minister be lodged
next week, it will be an acid test of its efficacy and integrity.
(22/3/2003)
*
Lim Kit Siang, DAP National
Chairman
|
http://dapmalaysia.org