DRIVER IN HIT-AND-RUN CASE OUT ON BAIL
Suspect detained on Friday
ACAR driver in his 30s, who crashed into a Singaporean man in a hit-and-run case, has been arrested. Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the man was detained at 3pm on Friday to assist in investigations under the Road Transport Act and was released on police bail yesterday.
“The man in his 30s was the car driver. He was detained at 3pm on Sept 1 and was released on police bail yesterday.”
He was commenting on the case of a Singaporean who died on Aug 30, five days after he and a friend were involved in an accident where they were knocked down at a car park in Jalan Abdullah Tahir here.
In the 3am incident on Aug 25, accounting student Justinian Tan, 24, and his friend, Brandon Yeo, 24, were injured when a car driven by the suspect knocked them down.
Tan and Yeo were among a group of six friends who drove to Johor Baru from Singapore to have supper.
After being sent to Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) by ambulance, it was determined that Tan suffered an injury to his brain and was referred to a neurosurgery team.
A friend of Tan’s, who was in the same group, told theindependent.sg that the ambulance allegedly arrived late and payment was demanded of them before treatment was given.
The Health Ministry denied both claims, citing a computerised log of the ambulance that recovered Tan from the accident site, and explained that his family were asked to only pay imaging costs of RM2,575 for primary survey X-rays and CT scans when they arrived at the hospital hours later.
Yeo was discharged, but Tan’s next of kin opted for him to be discharged at own risk and arranged for admission to a hospital in Singapore.
After his transfer to Singapore General Hospital, Tan was declared brain dead and taken off life support on Aug 30.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the ministry would send an official letter to the Singapore government to express disappointment over the slanderous article about Malaysian healthcare services that was uploaded on that particular news portal.
He said a discussion was held with the Foreign Ministry to draft and send the letter soon.
“The claim that a hospital ambulance was late to arrive was untrue because checks were made on the computerised log from the time of the emergency call was made, when it (ambulance) arrived and when it returned to HSA.
“The claim that staff members refused to give treatment without payment was baseless because emergency treatment was rendered to the victim before his family arrived from Singapore.
“These allegations are serious, and the Health Ministry abides by the principle that life is prioritised above everything else.
“The damage is done. It has not only brought a negative impact to us but it has negatively affected morale among public healthcare staff, who work hard and are dedicated to saving lives.
“The letter will be sent to the Singapore high commission in Malaysia as soon as possible. We will wait for a reply from Singapore and, at the same time, discuss with the ministry’s lawyers on our next course of action.”
Dr Subramaniam said a claim of a communication breakdown involving the Malay-speaking hospital staff should not be an excuse as hospitals the world over had been using their national language as the medium of communication.
Tan’s friend, Joshua De Rozario, who was in the same group that accompanied him to Johor Baru during the incident, admitted to Singaporean paper The Straits Times that communication barriers with the staff at HSA could have led to conflicting claims.
Johor traffic police chief Superintendent Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said yesterday that the man who drove the car that allegedly knocked down Tan lodged a police report a day after the incident. A second police report was lodged by one of Tan’s friends four days after the incident.