POLICE questioned 12 doctors until the wee hours today at the Serdang MAEPS quarantine centre despite the health minister’s assurance to Parliament that the medical workers will not be penalised for going on a strike on Monday.

Lawyer for the Hartal Doktor Kontrak group Asheeq Ali Seth Alivi said he was at the quarantine centre to assist the doctors but was not permitted to accompany them when their statements were taken.

“The police arrived at MAEPS at 11.45pm and questioned the doctors until 3.50am,” said Asheeq.

The doctors were on duty at the time, he said.

He said the police were responding to a report from the MAEPS director about the doctors’ participation in a strike organised by Hartal Doktor Kontrak.

The group tweeted at 12.15am today that police were at the quarantine centre to take statements even though the health minister had promised no action against the doctors.

“Police came to #MAEPS at midnight to record statements even though it was said that no disciplinary action will be taken. Then why disturb the frontliners at night. They are not partying at #MAEPS,” the group said in a tweet.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba told Parliament yesterday that no action will be taken against the doctors for staging a nationwide protest.

Asheeq said it was inhumane and irresponsible of the director of Maeps to lodge a police report after Adham had spoken in Parliament.

The lawyer urged the minister to order the director to retract the report.

“I was also informed that some doctors in other hospitals have also received calls from PDRM for investigation,” he said.

Asheeq said these were intimidation tactics and that the authorities must stop harassing the medical doctors who had worked hard to save lives amid the Covid epidemic.

He said the strike had taken place peacefully and in strict compliance with public health orders.

“The Health Ministry and Home Ministry must give their commitment in the Dewan Rakyat today that all investigations against doctors who participated in the #Hartal strike nationwide stop immediately,” he said.

On Monday hundreds of medical officers in Malaysia had walked out of government hospitals to demand permanent employment.

They had rejected Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s offer to extend their contracts as a stop-gap solution.
 
Hartal Doktor Kontrak had called the solution “half-baked”. – July 28, 2021.