KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) is waiting for the conclusion of a police investigation on the fatal crash of a Slim River Hospital ambulance in Perak before recommending any action.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Cheras here, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the investigation paper for the case is still with the police.
“(The) soonest they give it to us, we will be able to reveal (more),” he told reporters when asked for a timeline of when investigations would be completed.
Dzulkefly later told CodeBlue that the investigation paper would be given back to the MOH. After that, he would present its findings and recommendations during a post-Cabinet meeting.
“That’s the procedure,” he said after launching the Boost e-Wallet programme at a government health clinic in Cheras here, an initiative the MOH plans to introduce in phases at all government health clinics and hospitals in the near future.
Four government health clinics now offer patients the option to pay their medical bills via their e-Wallet through the Boost app, in an effort to reduce waiting time. The other three clinics which are part of the pilot programme are the Kuala Lumpur, Precinct 18 Putrajaya and Seremban government health clinics.
Last August 4, a Slim River Hospital ambulance crashed in Slim River, killing the driver and patient, which early police investigations said was caused by a burst tyre. Three weeks later, the tyre of another ambulance from the MOH hospital exploded on August 28, but the vehicle didn’t get into an accident.
Several Slim River Hospital staff have since complained that the public hospital’s ambulances previously suffered tyre bursts up to three times this year before the fatal August 4 accident, and three more times last year. Those incidents didn’t result in crashes.
UEM Edgenta oversees ambulance maintenance in Slim River Hospital, Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital and 30 other MOH hospitals in the northern region.
