Doctors blast police attack on hospitals, ready to issue affidavits

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 13: A group of senior medical doctors today issued a joint statement expressing outrage at the authorities' handling of the Bersih rally, specifically when police fired tear gas into the compounds of the Tung Shin and Chinese Maternity Hospitals along Jalan Pudu.

PICTURE PROOF ... The Tung Shin hospital building being fired upon, July 9

Saying hospitals should be "safe sanctuaries for all" and "consecrated places of refuge" even during war time, the eleven doctors and surgeons, some of whom serve at the said hospitals, also condemned the police for entering the hospital buildings in search of some protesters fleeing from the police attacks.

"What was most frightening and witnessed by many was the unprovoked violent assault within the hospital compounds and apprehension of several protesters who had merely ran into the hospitals to seek shelter from the tear gas and the water cannons!" they said in a statement emailed to Harakahdaily, the first public reaction by medical doctors following the police's denial that its men had shot tear gas into hospital compounds on July 9.

This was followed by a press conference held by Health minister Liow Tiong Lai, claiming that the police did not shoot tear gas and water cannon into the Tung Shin Hospital compound and that allegations on the contrary were not true.

A number of video recordings however showed that tear gas had indeed been fired into the Tung Shin vicinities, with a Bar Council report of its observation into the July 9 protests confirming the incident.

'Prepared for sworn affidavits'

The statement, signed by Dr Musa Nordin, Dr Sheikh Johari Bux, Dr Ng Kwee Boon, Dr Ng Swee Choon, Dr Ronald Macoy, Dr David Quek, Dr Mary Cardozo, Dr. Farouk Musa, Dr. Mazeni Alwi, Dr Pixie Low and Dr Steve Wong, also blasted the authorities for "shamelessly" denying the occurrence of these incidents in spite of evidences and eye-witness accounts.

"It is repulsive that the authorities entrusted with policing the nation and protecting the weak and needy, have shamelessly denied publicly, the occurrence of these incidents in spite of countless photos, videos and eye-witness accounts of what was evident to all independent observers," it said.

Saying they did not wish to join the polemics in the aftermath of the massive rally called by the electoral reforms group Bersih, the doctors, some of whom were on duty at the affected hospitals during the incident, said they were ready to provide sworn affidavits "if required, as to the veracity of the incidents."

The statement also reminded public office holders to discharge their duties with "moral integrity, dignity and transparency".

"Their failure to do so raises the public’s doubt in their competence and credibility as much as it demeans those in the high offices," it stressed.

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