In asking the medical fraternity not to blame him for the jailing of Dr. Basmullah Yusom who failed to register his clinic under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998, former Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek is guilty of a grave injustice to Dr. Baharom.

Chua said the PHFSA was never intended to criminalize doctors. He said PHFSA, which came into force on May 1, 2006 when he was Health Minister, was intended to weed out bogus doctors who posed a threat to public health and safety.

Now that a qualified doctor, who has an annual practicing certificate issued by the Malaysian Medical Council has been criminalized and sentenced to three months jail for his inability to pay RM120,000 fine, why has Chua failed to speak up firstly, to admit that the enforcement of the PHFSA should be suspended until there is iron-clad guarantee that there would not be another case of criminalizing of a doctor like that of Dr. Basmullah; and secondly, that it is grossly unjust for Dr. Basmullah to spend another day in jail. Read the rest of this entry »