Further action needed against errant urologist

I was very embarrassed when told by my counterparts here and in Australia and New Zealand about the alleged despicable behaviour of a Malaysian doctor working in Australia.

The urologist in question, who was the recipient of the Maal Hijrah award for medicine in Penang recently, was caught cheating on overtime claims and other allowances at a hospital in Perth.

Questions are being raised as to why Malaysia is so preoccupied and obsessed with bestowing titles and honorifics to alleged members of the underworld, extremists, money launderers, and now one who falsified claims and committed fraud abroad.

With one Malaysian committing sexual assault in New Zealand, and another in Australia, the latest to bring Malaysia yet again under the international microscope for despicable actions is this specialist, whose status as a medical practitioner in Australia is on the verge of being disqualified.

According to Australian reports and news, this physician was found to have doctored patient’s records to falsify overtime claims while on fellowship attachment in Perth between 2015 and 2016.

To make matters worse, this was no ordinary attachment, as it was an international fellowship programme during which he committed professional misconduct.

But he is now alleged to be back at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kelantan.

Was he punished or at least subjected to investigation, as he has brought the nation, his peers, and his profession into disrepute by his actions?

Or will there simply be no action? Should we merely pretend this incident did not take place, and focus on beer festivals? Or perhaps this is some international conspiracy meant to smear the good name of the state?

It was reported in Australian media that the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia (SAT) found that this specialist falsified patient records four times, and on 12 occasions claimed overtime he did not work while attached to the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth.

He also allegedly made 61 recall claims that were false, and in total, he received A$7,093 (RM23,500) that he was not entitled to.

The SAT has since ordered this individual to be disqualified from applying to be a registered as a medical practitioner in Australia for two and a half years. Reports had also stated that he was ordered to pay A$11,500 (RM38,000) as costs for the proceedings.

He has since returned the claims money to the South Metropolitan Health Service and has expressed remorse over his actions.

In all fairness, I do not know if the association that nominated him for the said award in the field of medicine was aware of these misconducts abroad.

Sadly, what he did was destructive to himself and to many others whose futures will be now compromised by his fraudulence.

And it is rather embarrassing that no response has emerged from either the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) or the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).

It is hoped that these bodies will initiate their own investigations into what has transpired in this case, with members on the committee comprising reputed third parties.

But I believe and have confidence that the MMA will initiate an investigation.

The urologist is lucky that criminal proceedings did not follow in Australia. But does this then mean that everybody lives happily ever after?- Mkini