Dr Ng Keong Chye, Chief of Gerakan Public Health & Social Development Bureau is worried of the medical negligence cases that are occurring at an alarming rate. Dr Ng is referring to the recent medical negligence case involving a premature birth baby girl in Ipoh who went into comma due to Anoxia when making the statement. The mother of the baby is holding the hospital liable for the tragedy. According to her, the nurse on duty failed to renew the oxygen tube for the baby which is what caused the baby to suffer from the anoxic injury.

Dr Ng says, it is not hard to find such similar medical malpractice in the past. For instance, in 2007, baby Yok Shan was born 2 months prematurely and kept in an incubator on a ventilator. The baby’s condition deteriorated and needed stronger antibiotics. A trainee doctor received the instruction from the specialist doctor to administer the injection, however, the trainee doctor inserted the needle into the wrong tissues instead of blood vessel in the arm. The mistake and negligence of the trainee doctor and the specialist doctor had cost baby Yok Shan her left arm and also a life time inconvenience.

In 2010, a pregnant lady who was about to give birth to her first child died after being given two pain-killer injections by the nurse. The lady was in grieving labor pain, however, she was not attended by her doctor. The two injections caused her difficulty in breathing and not long after which, both the mother and the baby died in the incident.

Having given the above examples, Dr Ng who is also Pahang Ketari State Assemblyman said, “Whilst medical cost is forever increasing, the public is not ensured a safe and reliable medical system. It is understandable when a mistake happens in the course of the medical treatment, however, a negligence is absolutely unforgivable because it is a matter of attitude.”

Dr Ng said that the government had been striving hard to promote Malaysia as a hub for Medical Tourism since 2007, boasting world class practitioner, modern infrastructure, clinical competency and proven record of recovery as part of the reasons to chose Malaysia as a Medical tourism country. However, with so many medical malpractice cases being reported by the media, it will definitely reflect badly on the image of our medical industry and thus affect the number of medical tourist to our country.

Dr Ng finds that medical negligence cases are usually caused by trainee doctors and nurses. Now that more and more higher education institutions are producing healthcare practitioners, hence, a senior doctor nowadays will need to mentor more trainee doctors during their housemanship in the hospital compared to last time. Dr Ng is in the opinion that the government needs to come up with a policy to ensure that the trainee doctors are properly trained and mentored by the senior doctor during houseman ship. Although most of the negligence cases are caused by inexperienced trainee doctor, it is unfair to let the patients suffer due to the lack of experience of the trainee doctor as well as the lack of care of the senior doctor.