Ministry denies delaying treatment for Singaporean accident victim

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also rubbishes claim that the ambulance was slow to respond, citing records that showed the ambulance arrived at the scene in 11 minutes.

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has denied a report by Singapore’s The Independent portal that a hospital in Johor Bahru had refused to treat an accident victim, who subsequently died from his injuries, until family and friends paid cash up-front.

In a statement, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Singaporean man was admitted to the Sultanah Aminah Hospital’s (HSA) Red Zone upon arrival and given emergency treatment.

The Emergency Department team, he said, also conducted X-rays and a CT-scan without asking for any deposit in view of the fact it was an emergency.

Noor Hisham said the treatment given was in line with the health ministry’s policy when it came to dealing with foreigners sent to government hospitals.

In view of the injury to his brain, he said the patient was referred to the neurosurgery team without any demand for a deposit.

“Only when the family members arrived were they asked to proceed with payment of the imaging amounting to RM 2,575. However, the family members opted for discharge at own risk (AOR discharge) and arranged for admission to a hospital in Singapore after understanding the risk involved in further delaying the surgery.”

Noor Hisham was responding to The Independent’s report that Justinian Tan, 25, had died following a hit-and-run incident in Johor Bahru after the HSA allegedly withheld treatment until family and friends paid cash up-front.

The portal said Tan was denied even preliminary medical scans until cash payments were made.

After waiting five hours for treatment, Tan’s friends contacted the Singapore Consulate-General in Johor Bahru which arranged for a private ambulance to take Tan back to Singapore.

However, when the ambulance arrived at the Singapore General Hospital, doctors there said nothing could be done as too much time had elapsed.

Noor Hisham also rubbished Tan’s friends’ claims that authorities were slow to respond, with the ambulance arriving only after 30 minutes despite the accident site being just 5km or nine minutes’ drive away according to Google Maps.

Citing the ambulance service records, Noor Hisham revealed that the emergency call was received at 2:57am on Aug 25.

The ambulance left HSA at 2:59am, arrived at the scene at 3:10am and departed from the scene with the patient at 3:15am.

“Kudos to the ambulance call services for a very timely response, with a dispatch time of two minutes and response time of 13 minutes.”

Noor Hisham urged all relevant parties to be responsible in reporting, as releasing inaccurate information and baseless statements could lead to misunderstanding and disrupt harmony. -FMT