We refer to the letter from VS Lingam published by Malaysiakini on Aug 31, 2017, titled "Poor service for patients at UMMC". Universiti Malaya Medical Centre's (UMMC) formal response to this is as follows:

UMMC would like to thank the writer for highlighting the issue faced by the complainant when attending his follow-up at the orthopaedic clinic on Aug 4, 2017.

We have taken note of the content of this article and we are conducting formal investigations into the matters raised by the complainant.

We wish to assure that the issues raised are being looked into, and that necessary steps will be taken to address any problems once they become apparent following our investigations.

However, we would like to mention here, based on what is written in this article, that UMMC does not advocate "first come, first served" protocols and that we advise patients to attend our clinics only at the allocated appointment time. Therefore having to come at 7.30am to the clinic to get a queue number was unnecessary.

Further, we do advise patients that, in general, waiting times may take up to three hours depending on clinic loads and the complexities of the problems treated by the doctors.

Patients, in general, may have overlooked this information, or it may be partly due to the lack of emphasis on our part during patient's visit. We will thus endeavour to educate the public further by placing more notices and implementing other proactive measures.

UMMC takes pride in our service to the rakyat and will take every step necessary to ensure that the needs of the rakyat will be delivered within our means and within the prescribed resources provided to us.

We assure the public that reports such as that mentioned in this article are nothing more than an isolated case. All issues will be considered and mitigated appropriately.

We thank the rakyat for your patience and support towards UMMC.

ABDUL HADI BIN RUSLAN is a public relation officer at UMMC.