Parliament Debates Yoke Shan's Case

During the committee stage of the debate for Ministry of Health, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, YB Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) touched on negligence of public hospital which has been highlighted recently by various media report, i.e. Baby Yok Shan left arm amputation.

在卫生部委员会阶段辩论时，国会反对党领袖兼民主行动党怡保东区国会议员林吉祥严厉抨击政府医院的医疗疏忽问题，并提出小钰珊所遭遇的不幸疏忽事故。

Minister of Health: Mistakes are Inevitable

The Minister of Health has irresponsibly given a blank cheque to hospital doctors and authorities to make mistakes and be negligent. By accepting that mistakes are "inevitable", he'll only be letting weak and negligent doctors get away with it.

Parliamentary Opposition leader, Sdr Lim Kit Siang wrote on his blog:

The Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek’s statement in the press yesterday that “medical mistakes are inevitable” however careful the doctors are is most regrettable and must be deplored by all MPs as it is tantamount to giving a blank cheque for hospital negligence endangering lives and welfare of the people seeking medical treatment.

We claim to want to be a first-world developed nation which is not matched by a first-world mentality and mindset, such as making an important distinction between mistakes and negligence in hospital. The former is understandable and acceptable but the latter, i.e. negligence, is totally unacceptable and unforgivable.

Tragic cases like the baby girl Lai Yok Shan who lost her left forearm because of a chain of negligence at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang or a private hospital nurse Kalaiyarasi Perumal, 44, who went through the nightmare of a pair of forceps left in her abdomen after an operation at the Sultan Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru cannot be accepted as unavoidable incidents.

Tragedy is only waiting to happen to you.