SHAH ALAM, June 1 — The Selangor State Health Department (JKNS) is waiting for a report from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) before deciding on the action to be taken against its staff detained by the enforcement agency in connection with the alleged soliciting of bribes for funeral management.
State Health director Datuk Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman said the decision would include whether to suspend or dismiss the staff involved.
“There are six officers that have been detained by the MACC. So we have to see what is the next step taken by MACC.
“Once the MACC informs (the status of the case) and if it is brought to court, we will act accordingly,” he said in a press conference after a town hall session on the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) at the Tun Raja Uda Library today, which was also attended by Deputy Health Minister I Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali
Commenting further, Dr Sha’ari said so far the department had only received reports involving staff at the Kajang and Serdang hospitals.
On May 30, Selangor MACC director Datuk Alias Salim was reported to have confirmed the detention of four employees of a government hospital, and that the case was being investigated under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act 2009.
He said three of the suspects were remanded at the Shah Alam Magistrate’s Court while another suspect, a 41-year-old assistant medical officer, was released on MACC bail due to health reasons after assisting in the investigation of the case.
On May 27, two health assistants, aged 40 and 42, were remanded for five days by the MACC in connection to the case.
Meanwhile, commenting on the HFMD situation in Selangor, Dr Sha’ari said a total of 18,525 cases had been recorded so far this year, with the number of weekly cases of late exceeding the warning level.
He said that in epidemiology week (EW) 21/2022 (EW 21), a total of 4,884 cases were reported, an increase of 2 per cent compared to the previous EW with 4,776 cases.
Among the districts with the highest number of cases are Petaling with 6,111 (34 per cent), Hulu Langat with 2,965 (16 per cent) and Gombak with 2,537 (14 per cent).
“To date, a total of 336 laboratory samples have been taken and sent to the National Public Health Laboratory with 36 per cent (121 samples) have been detected positive,” he said, adding that the majority of the cases were of the coxsackie A6, pan enterovirus, EV71 and coxsackie A16 viruses.
— Bernama
