Tabung Haji officer gets RM67,000 in damages for eating cockroach at hospital

SHAH ALAM: A Tabung Haji customer service officer won RM67,000 in damages after the specialist hospital was found negligent for serving him vegetables containing a cockroach for lunch. 

Wan Hailmey Mahrawi, 38, said he was provided with the food when he was warded at the KPJ Selangor Specialist Hospital here to treat his cervical disc disorders.  

In allowing the negligence claim with costs Thursday, Sessions Court judge G. Ramesh held that Wan Hailmey had proven his case after hearing evidence from witnesses from both parties.  

Judge Ramesh ordered Selangor Specialist Hospital Sdn Bhd, which runs the hospital, to pay the plaintiff RM7,000 over his abdominal pain and diarrhoea for five days, and another RM60,000 in exemplary damages.  

The judge also awarded an interest of 6% per year on the judgment sum from Thursday to its full settlement.  

The judgment was read out by Sessions Court judge Nurul Izwan Ahmad Zubir as the presiding judge had been transferred to Petaling Jaya.

In his statement of claim, Wan Hailmey, who was represented by lawyer Hazizah Kassim, said he was warded at the hospital for five days from May 18 last year.  

Wan Hailmey said he was served with lunch on May 20 last year, where he found his vegetable portion contained a cockroach.  

He said he had eaten the "head and leg" part of the cockroach that day, causing him to suffer dizziness, vomiting, loss of appetite, stomach pain and fever.  

On that day, he said, he called several nurses at his ward to show them the cockroach, claiming that some of them had also taken photograph of the insect.  

In the suit filed on Aug 6 last year asking for damages, Wan Hailmey said he was later traumatised to eat rice again and that the incident had affected him emotionally.  

Among others, he claimed that Selangor Specialist Hospital Sdn Bhd, named as the sole defendant, was negligent in its duty of care to ensure food provided to patients was safe and clean from any dirt and insect pest.  

Wan Hailmey said he had on June 1 last year lodged a complaint to the Health Ministry's Food Safety and Quality division over the incident.

In the statement of defence dated Sept 8 last year, the defendant said the plaintiff had only created the story and that he did not complain over his symptoms for stomach pain, vomiting and fever. 

The defendant denied the negligence allegations, saying that the claim by the plaintiff that he had eaten the cockroach in his lunch while being warded at the hospital could not be trusted.  

The plaintiff and his doctor who treated him for his stomach pain had testified for him while two other witnesses, including a housekeeper leader, had given evidence for the defendant on Feb 5 this year.