MOH probes into sexual harassment claims at Ipoh, Seremban hospitals

The Health Ministry has launched an investigation into allegations that a senior doctor had sexually harassed and intimidated his junior staff members at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital (HRPB) in Ipoh, Perak.

This comes after the Perak Health Department received an anonymous letter detailing allegations against the male doctor, where its sender also urged the authority to transfer him out.

It was the second time such allegations have surfaced against senior government doctors this week after a similar case at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital (HTJ) in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan also prompted the Health Ministry to launch a separate probe.

On the HRPB case, Perak Health Department director Dr Feisul Idzwan Mustapha said they received the “surat layang” that was mailed to the department on Feb 28.

“Following this, the Perak Health Department has set up an independent investigation committee on Feb 28. The members of this committee include officers who were appointed by the Health Ministry deputy director-general (medical).

“Investigation has commenced and is now at the stage of collecting evidence.

“The Health Ministry views such allegations very seriously and has zero tolerance on workplace sexual harassment,” he said.

Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital

It was understood that copies of the letter, which claimed that it was written by trainee doctors at HRPB, had also been left at the hospital parking lots to be found by members of the public.

Photos of the letter allegedly found in one of the parking lots were shared by a netizen on Twitter last night and have since gone viral on social media.

Among others, it claimed that the senior doctor had taken advantage of his position to be alone with female trainee doctors, otherwise called housemen, and used the time to touch their body parts or lewd talk.

The letter also mentioned the names of several other male doctors who allegedly harassed female doctors at the hospital and warned HRPB management against sweeping the complaint under the rug.

Harassment and alleged other misconduct

On Monday, the HTJ hospital in Seremban issued a similar statement announcing an investigation into an anonymous letter alleging misconduct of several senior doctors.

The letter, which was said to have gone viral on March 3, alleged a male specialist of being unprofessional and using vulgar words when reprimanding his staff members, including junior doctors and nurses.

Another male specialist allegedly harassed female staff members including uttering words that sounded vulgar when conducting surgeries.

The letter also claimed that specialists from a specific department at HTJ were receiving bribes from implant companies.

HTJ director Dr Zaleha Md Noor said they were made aware of the allegations which have been made viral via social media platforms Telegram and X (formerly known as Twitter).

“An investigation committee has been formed specifically to investigate these issues.

“We call for all parties to not make any presumption until the investigation is completed,” she said in the statement. - Mkini