KUALA LUMPUR: Police have set up two special teams to investigate claims by 11 doctors at Tung Shin Hospital that tear gas was fired into the hospital compound during the July 9 illegal rally.
Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah said one special team would investigate claims by the doctors while another team would investigate the whole incident.
"We (police) will investigate what happened, including taking statements from doctors, witnesses and personnel (police) present at that time," he said after attending a family day function for Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent in Kepong near here Saturday.
The Tung Shin Hospital Board had said on Monday that tear gas was not fired into the hospital compound, but several news portals reported that 11 doctors claimed otherwise.
The 11 doctors who released a joint statement on Wednesday are Dr Ng Kwee Boon - Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Datin Dr Low Paik See - Consultant Paediatrician, Datuk Dr Musa Mohd Nordin - Consultant Paediatrician & Neonatologist, Dr Mazeni Alwi - Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist, Dr David Quek - Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Sheikh Johari Bux - Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Dr Steve Wong - Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa - Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr Ng Swee Choon - Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Mary Cardosa - Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Dr Jeffrey Abu Hassan - Consultant Chest Physician.
Many of the eleven were on duty at the Tung Shin and Chinese Maternity hospitals at Jalan Pudu on July 9 and stated they were ready to give sworn affidavits to back the veracity of their assertions.
“We, the undersigned doctors, wish not to enter into the polemics of the Bersih 2.0 march on 9th July 2011 but would like to clarify the inconvenient truth.
“We are outraged at the incidents, and the subsequent responses from the authorities, to the events where tear gas and chemical-laced water were shot into the compounds of the Tung Shin and Chinese Maternity Hospitals, two adjacent buildings along Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur, with scant regard for the safety of patients, staff and the general public who were at the buildings that afternoon,” the doctors said.
“Hospitals are considered as safe sanctuaries for all, even during wartime, but these consecrated places of refuge and protection were violated by the defence forces that afternoon. Police even entered the buildings in search of some of these peaceful marchers.
“What was most frightening and witnessed by many was the unprovoked violent assault within the hospital compounds and the apprehension of several protesters who had merely run into the hospitals to seek shelter from the tear gas and the water cannons.
“It is repulsive that the authorities entrusted with policing the nation and protecting the weak and needy, have shamelessly denied publicly, the occurrence of these incidents in spite of countless photo/video and eyewitness accounts of what was evident to all independent observers,” they said.
On Friday, it was reported that a high-level committee of enquiry headed by Health Ministry secretary-general Datuk Kamarul Zaman Isahad had been set up to investigate if tear gas canisters and water cannons had been fired directly into the Tung Shin Hospital compound during the Bersih rally.
Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had said the committee would clear the contradictions in various statements made by different parties and had urged witnesses to come forward.
Meanwhile, Ku also said police would monitor the movement of Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) including a call by president Datuk S. Ambiga that supporters wear yellow t-shirts on Saturdays. - Bernama
Related Stories: Cyberbattle to own the truth' Panel to probe Tung Shin incident Tung Shin Hospital not affected Rally over but debate goes on Street demonstrations not part of Malaysian culture, says PM Probe into rally incursion No damage to Tung Shin Hospital City life back to normal a day after stand-off Najib: Cops acted professionally during rallies
