The Health Ministry’s six-member panel which probed the Tung Shin hospital incident has urged the Home Ministry to take action against police personnel who threw smoke bombs into an adjacent maternity hospital.
The panel said that appropriate action must be taken against the police personnel who threw the smoke bombs to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
It said that smoke bombs were thrown into the Chinese Maternity Hospital (CMH) compound, which is administratively separate from Tung Shin, and which had ceased operations since September 2006.
CMH is scheduled to undergo major renovations in December 2011.
The panel also concluded that although the police had fired their water cannons at the hospital compound, allegations that tear gas canisters were shot into the hospital compound were untrue.
Following allegations that the police had used anti-riot weapons on protesters seeking refuge in the hospital during the Bersih rally on July 9, the Health Ministry had formed a high-level committee to probe the matter.
‘Hospital operations unaffected’
Meanwhile, the panel also stated that the police actions had no impact or disruptions on the operations of the Tung Shin hospital.
“There were no official complaints made by in-house patients, their caretakers or visitors to the Tung Shin administration for injuries, disturbance or trauma, following the July 9 incident,” read the statement.
However, the panel said that there was damage to the fence of the Tung Shin parking lot caused by the protesters.
The panel had met three times and interviewed six Tung Shin staff members and one doctor over the course of their investigations.
According to the panel’s terms of reference, the panel was supposed to study the impact of the incident towards the safety of in-house patients, physical damage caused to Tung Shin and whether hospital operations were disrupted.
Following the release of the report on Monday, the Home Ministry said that errant police personnel would be hauled up for internal disciplinary hearings.
The panel said that appropriate action must be taken against the police personnel who threw the smoke bombs to ensure that such incidents do not recur.It said that smoke bombs were thrown into the Chinese Maternity Hospital (CMH) compound, which is administratively separate from Tung Shin, and which had ceased operations since September 2006.
CMH is scheduled to undergo major renovations in December 2011.
The panel also concluded that although the police had fired their water cannons at the hospital compound, allegations that tear gas canisters were shot into the hospital compound were untrue.Following allegations that the police had used anti-riot weapons on protesters seeking refuge in the hospital during the Bersih rally on July 9, the Health Ministry had formed a high-level committee to probe the matter.
‘Hospital operations unaffected’
Meanwhile, the panel also stated that the police actions had no impact or disruptions on the operations of the Tung Shin hospital.
“There were no official complaints made by in-house patients, their caretakers or visitors to the Tung Shin administration for injuries, disturbance or trauma, following the July 9 incident,” read the statement.However, the panel said that there was damage to the fence of the Tung Shin parking lot caused by the protesters.
The panel had met three times and interviewed six Tung Shin staff members and one doctor over the course of their investigations.
According to the panel’s terms of reference, the panel was supposed to study the impact of the incident towards the safety of in-house patients, physical damage caused to Tung Shin and whether hospital operations were disrupted.
Following the release of the report on Monday, the Home Ministry said that errant police personnel would be hauled up for internal disciplinary hearings.
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