KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim expressed disappointment that the Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru Hospital (HSA) still hasn’t been repaired, three years after a deadly fire.
Tunku Ismail, popularly known as TMJ, said he visited the Ministry of Health (MOH) hospital yesterday and was “shocked” to see that the wards still showed remnants of the 2016 fire, which claimed the lives of six patients, and looked as if “there has been no effort to repair or rehabilitate them”.
“NOTHING has changed since 3 years ago,” said Tunku Ismail in a statement yesterday.
“Is the welfare of Johoreans not important that important basic necessities such as this has literally been left abandoned? Why are the federal government’s incentives for Johoreans and state government reduced to the extent that these wards have not been repaired even after three years? Matters regarding the people’s interest must always be the priority of those in power and I hope this is not neglected.”
The Johor crown prince pointed out that Johor contributed 9.6 per cent, or RM138.9 billion, of the national economy last year.
“The economy is currently suffering and during such times, the welfare of the people, especially access to basic amenities such as healthcare must be given importance,” he said.
“Johoreans deserve to get good facilities for the betterment of their lives.”
Tunku Ismail’s remarks came after CodeBlue reported that the parents of a victim of the HSA fire — 24-year-old Neeramaladevi Chandran — have filed a civil lawsuit against the public hospital’s director, the Johor state health director, and the government, claiming negligence of patient safety.
Plaintiffs Chanthiran Palanisamy and Rajaswari Ramalingam accused the defendants of failure to repair facilities, electrical wiring, and electrical equipment in the hospital; failure to follow standard operating procedure in the maintenance of the building; and failure to create an efficient evacuation plan during disasters; among others.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad recently announced that MOH was planning to publish by the end of the year the report of an independent investigation led by former judge Mohd Hishamudin Yunus into the fire that happened on October 25, 2016.
