The Health Ministry, and not the Penang government, is responsible for probing and punishing doctors who were accused of discriminating their patients based on race, said state executive councillor Dr Afif Bahardin.

NONE Afif ( left ) urged the ministry and Malaysian Medical Council to speed up the probe into these complaints ,especially after Umno Pinang Tunggal assemblyperson Roslan Saidin submitted an official report on the matter to the state Health Department yesterday.

Today, Roslan had also arranged and provided four witnesses - who came forward to share their experiences with the doctors at the Kepala Batas and Seberang Jaya hospitals - to substantiate his claims.

The four were out of six complainants related to five cases in Kepala Batas and one in Seberang Jaya hospital.

“If true, stern action should be taken on the doctors involved. The probe should be completed as quickly as possible as this is a matter of public interest,” said Afif when met in Seberang Jaya this afternoon.

NONE “Whoever it is, whether it is a doctor, lawyer or politician, if found to be racist, denying the public their professional service based on race, they should be punished and are no longer qualified to continue in their field of work,” he added.

Afif said as state exco member responsible for health, his job is to ensure that no individual in Penang would be denied the best medical treatment available.

He added that it was also his responsibility to protect the medical profession and its image from being “tarnished by wild allegations”.

He stressed that it was based on these duties that he had pressured Roslan to lodge an official complaint about the matter so that immediate probe can begin.

Before this, the respondr from Health Minister S Subramanian and his deputy Dr Hilmi Yahya gave the impression that Roslan has not lodged an official report on the matter, Afif said.

“It was not done in a rash and impatient manner,” said Afif, referring to Roslan’s demand for him to apologise to the families for being to quick to think that he had no proof to back his allegations.

“After several reminders from Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and me, only then did Roslan submit the report yesterday,” he added.

“So rather than say sorry, I would rather thank Roslan for finally lodging the report at the state Health Department,” he stressed.

Roslan first raised the issue at the state legislative assembly on July 3, while he tried to tie the incidents to the Chinese tsunami or drop in support of the Chinese community for BN at the 13th general election.

‘Doctors involved who should apologise’

Meanwhile, Afif said that it was the doctors involved who should apologise to the families or patients who received the unfair treatment, and not him.

He further advised doctors that it was very important to maintain a good relationship with their patients as this can prevent any misunderstanding from arising between them.

“We hope this would be a lesson for us all.

“For doctors, our priority is to ensure our customers are satisfied,” said Afif, who was also a medical doctor before winning the Seberang Jaya seat under PKR.

Afif, who is also state PKR Youth vice-chief, urged all quarters to wait for the results of the probe before making further claims.

“It is only fair for us to wait for the result of the probe. There can be allegations but no one should be said to be guilty until the investigation into the incidents are completed,” said Afif.

Victims of 'racist doctors' tell their tales of woe