"First, do no harm" is one of the first principles medical students learn.
While it has its origins in the practice of medicine, it can nonetheless apply in many other situations as well.
That said, is there any truth that an ambulance responding to emergency was stopped by traffic policeman to allow a convoy of VIP vehicles to pass?
VERDICT:
FALSE
Melaka police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said the incident involved an incident where officers were escorting a convoy of 18 buses ferrying a Chinese delegation as part of a state tourism promotion programme at about 10.30am on Thursday (Dec 11).
He said the convoy reached a traffic light intersection on Jalan Taming Sari and policemen temporarily halted vehicles coming from the city centre.
"The police officer saw an ambulance that was among the stopped traffic,
"The ambulance had its red and blue beacon lights on but did not activate its siren or hazard lights and was queuing in the lane with other vehicles.
"The officer assessed that the ambulance was not in an emergency situation," he said on Friday (Dec 12).
DCP Dzulkhairi said that if the ambulance had been responding to an emergency, it would have used the left lane and sounded its siren to request priority passage.
"After the last bus in the convoy passed through, the officer left the location and observed that the ambulance remained stationary in the right lane.
"It also did not sound any emergency siren as alleged in a viral video," he said.
