JOHOR BARU, Sept 1 — Johor Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat has called on the Health Ministry to take legal action against a Singapore online news portal over a baseless report on the death of the republic’s citizen here recently.

He said he was saddened over the report as it had affected the morale of the state health department’s personnel.

"I am saddened by such news report. As such, I urge all quarters to respect the profession (of those) in the healthcare sector, especially in Johor, by not painting a negative picture,” he said in a statement here today.

Ayub was commenting on the report that alleged there was slow response time of up to 30 minutes by an ambulance vehicle from the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) following a fatal road crash involving a 25-year-old Singaporean man on Aug 25.

The report also claimed that HSA had demanded a sum of deposit from the victim’s family before treating the patient.

"Basically, it has been a practice by the emergency department staff of all government hospitals not to ask for a deposit before any treatment for critical cases like the case mentioned above, including foreigners.

"Therefore, I deny the (death) case was due to the delay of the ambulance or payment issue,” said Ayub. — Bernama