Academic lodges report of false insurance claims by 2 surgeons

PETALING JAYA: An academic has lodged a police report alleging that two surgeons from a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur made insurance claims for surgery although one of them did not take any part in an operation.

Geoffrey Williams, a management profesor at a private university, made the report on behalf of his friend, Nur Muhammad Tajrid Zahalan, who was said to have undergone two spine surgeries in June and July 2015.

The report alleges that one doctor had made two insurance claims amounting to RM5,360 on behalf of the other doctor.

Williams alleged that the two surgeons had since been charged with professional misconduct by the Malaysian Medical Council.

“I made this police report because I believe that deliberately making false insurance claims is a crime. There might be other elements of criminal activity in this case, such as using someone’s credentials to claim money without their knowledge or consent,” Williams said in his report.

“I also believe that deliberately taking money from a patient for surgery when the doctor has admitted that he did not do any surgery may also be a crime,” Williams told FMT.

In his police report, Williams also said he believed that the two doctors were in cahoots to “take money from their patient under false pretences”. He added that he had also reported the matter “repeatedly” to Health Minister Dzulklefly Ahmad over the past 18 months. - FMT