KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) have called for an independent internal inquiry into an alleged scam of about 190 house officers at Tunku Azizah Hospital (HTA).
MMA, the country’s largest doctors’ association, said while police would address alleged criminal elements, an independent internal inquiry must examine how the alleged criminal fraud by an administrative assistant was allowed to occur within the workplace, including gaps in admin processes, supervision, and escalation.
“Both are necessary — one for accountability, the other for system correction,” said MMA president Dr R. Arasu in a statement today.
“This incident also highlights structural vulnerabilities within the health care system. Junior doctors operate within a hierarchical environment, with limited visibility over administrative and payroll processes, which creates a risk of compliance without verification when instructions appear to come from authorised personnel.
“MMA emphasises that clear safeguards must be in place, including strict adherence to official payment channels, stronger internal controls and audit mechanisms, defined administrative accountability, safe reporting pathways without fear of repercussion, and proper orientation for junior doctors on administrative processes.”
HDK, a contract doctors’ group, also demanded an internal inquiry into the major scam, separate from the police case.
“We also believe there should be a clear channel for others to come forward with complaints or similar experiences at other Ministry of Health (MOH) facilities, as we are concerned this may not be an isolated incident. We are especially worried that comparable issues may have occurred elsewhere, involving not only doctors but other health care workers as well,” HDK spokesman Dr Muhammad Yassin told CodeBlue today.
When asked if Dr Shamsul Anuar Kamarudin should resign as HTA director, Dr Muhammad Yassin said HDK didn’t think this was warranted at this stage unless there was evidence he was aware of the alleged scam but failed to take appropriate action.
HDK urged the government to pay compensation to the victims, similar to MMA who stressed that the affected housemen “should not bear financial loss arising from this incident”.
“In summary, this is not just a case of alleged misconduct but a system issue. The priority now must be clear — accountability, system correction, and preventing recurrence,” said Dr Arasu.
Dr Muhammad Yassin told the MOH to strengthen oversight, tighten access controls over staff-related financial processes, and ensure that junior doctors and other health care workers have direct channels to verify any payment requests with the relevant department.
“In addition, there should be regular anti-fraud reminders and clearer reporting mechanisms so that suspicious requests can be escalated quickly without fear of repercussion.”
CodeBlue reported last Friday about how a 28-year-old female admin assistant, who was a contract MyStep personnel, allegedly defrauded at least 187 trainee doctors in HTA’s paediatric department out of RM47,210 over two and a half years from September 2023 to March 2026.
The junior pembantu tadbir (PT) allegedly conned her coworkers through a two-pronged scam: collecting an RM900 “refund” for “overpayment” of emoluments and an RM40 to RM45 “fee” for the compulsory neonatal resuscitation programme (NRP) course that was actually free of charge. She was also accused of forging official documents.
A hundred and eighty-seven housemen paid the PT either RM45 or RM40 each, except one who paid RM120, under the NRP scam, totalling RM8,210. Forty-two of them were additionally hoodwinked by the salary scam, with 40 housemen getting cheated of RM900 each, one of RM1,200, and another of RM1,800, totalling RM39,000.
HTA has since announced that it has sacked the MyStep staff and revoked her access to systems and facilities at the tertiary hospital in Kuala Lumpur.
