— ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star
KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah minister has lent his support to the state Health Department in light of the heavy criticisms it received on social media over a stillbirth incident at the Children and Women’s Hospital in Likas here.
State Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya, who is also in charge of health matters in Sabah, said he was disturbed with the degree of backlash aimed at the department.
“I saw many netizens being emotional and expressing their anger, uttering abusive language at doctors and nurses,” he said to reporters after attending an event here on Friday (June 24).
“This is something that we should not do. Even if there is (a possibility) of negligence or inefficiency, let the relevant authority conduct their investigations transparently first.
“But we should not hurl such language which could demoralise our healthcare workers. I urge the people to put a stop to this,” added.
Sabah Health director Dr Rose Nani Mudin had previously said that a detailed investigation was being carried out by her department over the stillbirth at the Likas hospital on Sunday (June 19).
The sister of the woman who experienced the stillbirth posted a message on the incident on Facebook and it quickly made the rounds, with netizens venting their frustrations over the matter.
When asked if there was a time frame for the health authorities to wrap their investigations over the stillbirth, Shahelmey said the public should be patient.
“I was informed by the director that they are still probing the matter as well as giving counselling to the family so we will just have to wait for the outcome of the investigations,” he said.
He added, however, that he had requested Dr Rose for the department’s communications unit to maintain a line of communication with the public so they could provide transparent and accurate information to the people.
“This is so it will not give rise to wild speculations or accusations concerning the healthcare service,” he added.
