DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is of the opinion that those responsible behind the fire incident at Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) should be put to task.

“If heads should roll because of the HSA fire, killing six and injuring 11, putting at risk the lives and limbs of patients, doctors, nurses, the hospital and medical staff, then let heads roll!” he said.

In his Deepavali message, Lim said this year was one of the darkest and particularly sad due to the tragic fire.

“The tragic incident at HSA where six patients who sought a new lease of life at the intensive care unit (ICU) met death instead because of systemic, infrastructure and human failure and negligence should never have been allowed to happen,” he said.

“The six ICU deaths in the HSA fire should not die in vain.”

Calling for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the incident, Lim said that the inquiry should also be extended to include the history of fire prevention efforts at HSA and to all hospitals in the country.

This is to ensure that there would be no recurrence of the tragic incident in other hospitals.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya yesterday said that the government did not plan to suspend medical solutions provider Medivest Sdn Bhd while the probe on the incident was ongoing.

This is because Medivest is servicing 12 other hospitals in Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca and would therefore affect support services in those hospitals.

The fire which broke out on Tuesday had claimed the lives of six patients.

A day later, smoke came out of a socket at the hospital’s operating theatre, prompting an evacuation.