PETALING JAYA: An independent committee has been set up to investigate allegations of sexual harassment involving healthcare personnel at Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in Ipoh, says the Perak Health Department.
Its director Dr Feisul Idzwan Mustapha said a letter with the allegations was received by post on Feb 28.
Following which an investigation committee, comprising officers appointed by Health Ministry deputy director-general (medical) Datuk Dr Nor Azimi Yunus, was set up the next day.
“Evidence is being collected as part of the investigation process. The Health Ministry views these accusations seriously and has zero tolerance for sexual harassment at the workplace,” said Dr Feisul in a statement yesterday.
In the letter, a group of housemen accused a male doctor at the hospital of sexual harassment.
The anonymous letter addressed to the hospital director has since gone viral on social media.
The junior doctors claimed that they had taken the matter to the hospital director as the department head could not resolve the problem, adding that those who were supposed to protect them had failed to do so.
Aside from sexual harassment, they also alleged that the male doctor forced junior doctors to input false information in the hospital information system.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan said in May last year that incidents of workplace violence against Health Ministry staff rose by 196% from 167 cases in 2017 to 494 cases in 2019, before dipping to 321 cases in 2020 and 260 cases in 2021.
Dr Muhammad Radzi said that any form of violence, be it physical, verbal, sexual or written, could disrupt productivity.
The ministry also launched the second edition of the Guidelines for Preventing and Managing Violence Against MOH Staff in Health Facilities last year, which was an update to the guidelines published on April 28, 2017.
The guidelines, Dr Muhammad Radzi said, was an improvement in terms of definition, scope, handling of violence cases and notification processes.
