Death of navy cadet: MMA hopes doc will be given fair hearing
Published on: Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) hoped the Ministry of Health will give due consideration to the statement of the doctor who attended to Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, a National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) student, who died after being severely beaten by other cadets.Its President Dr Ravindran R. Naidu said as a practising doctor and clinician, the Minister concerned will surely know that the attending doctor's impressions and observations at the time when he saw the patient must be given most weight."What the doctor saw at the time of the patient's visit might have been very different from what was seen at post-mortem.
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"If the injuries were consistent with the history given by the victim, the doctor might have had no suspicion at all of any unlawful act having been committed," he said in a statement here, Monday.He, however, acknowledged that it is required by law that anyone who knows of a criminal act is obliged to report it and patient confidentiality is not an excuse for not doing so as long as details divulged are kept to a minimum.He thanked the ministry for being proactive in investigating the case and expressed the association's sympathy for the victim and his family."As responsible doctors, we wish to follow the law. Where we are reasonably sure that a criminal act has been performed on or by one of our patients, we will report it to the relevant authorities.
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"Of course, medical confidentiality is very important, so the suspicion would have to be very strong for us to breach it in even a very limited way," he said.He added that the ministry should come up with guidelines to ensure that such incident does not recur in the future.
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Zulfarhan, 21, died at Serdang Hospital on June 1 after allegedly being tortured by fellow students, reportedly over the theft of a laptop.He was initially brought to a clinic in Bandar Baru Bangi but was told to go home after receiving treatment and told to come back four days later.However, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 9pm on June 1.Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the attending doctor should have raised a "red flag" with the police after being aware of the student's serious conditions. He said a doctor should report to the police if he suspected that a case has criminal elements, calling it a 'standard practice'.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Five UPNM students have been charged with Zulfarhan's murder while another was charged with abetting. Thirteen other students were charged with voluntarily causing hurt to force a confession from Zulfarhan over the alleged theft.