IPOH, Sept 9 — Perak has denied an allegation that Taiping Hospital has no house officers (HOs), describing the claim in an article published by CodeBlue as inaccurate.

Perak Health, Human Resources, Indian Affairs and National Integration Committee chairman Datuk A. Sivanesan said the hospital currently has 93 house officers out of 231 training slots allocated, giving it a 40.3 per cent placement rate.

He said the figure meant there was a shortfall of 138 house officers against the available training slots, but stressed that it was incorrect to claim that the hospital had none.

“We accept the fact that we have filled only 40.3 per cent of the housemanship slots. That is the fact, but to say there are zero house officers is not the truth,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of the State Legislative Assembly sitting here.

Sivanesan said he had met the Taiping Hospital director and obtained clarification on the hospital’s current staffing situation.

According to the hospital, there are currently 219 medical officers (MOs) serving there, comprising 137 permanent MOs, 62 contract MOs and 20 MOs who have completed their housemanship training.

He said another 46 MO positions remained unfilled based on the hospital’s current operational requirements, which include patient management, receiving referral cases from hospitals within the northern Perak cluster and managing acute patient admissions.

“The optimum requirement for medical officers at Hospital Taiping is estimated at 273,” he said.

On housemen, Sivanesan said they could not be placed in every department and were currently confined to six departments.

“At every specialist hospital, we have housemen, but they are confined to six departments,” he said.

Sivanesan said the CodeBlue article appeared to have used photographs from Taiping Hospital’s official Facebook page, which were posted on August 13.

He said the hospital’s Facebook post contained only photographs and did not include any written statement claiming that the hospital had zero housemen.

He said the article was based on a letter submitted to CodeBlue by an individual expressing exhaustion and concern over patients.

“I am not saying everything contained in the article is untrue. I am not saying all of it is wrong. There are truths in it which we will look into,” he said.

However, Sivanesan urged the publication to verify facts with the relevant authorities before publishing reports concerning healthcare matters, saying such reports could cause unnecessary alarm among the public.

“But please, when it comes to health, ensure that you get the facts right. You can meet me. I was not consulted. You can meet the director, who was also not consulted,” he said.

“Get the feedback from the director. We have nothing to hide. This involves health,” he added.

Sivanesan said he respected CodeBlue and acknowledged that the publication had highlighted issues that could be taken into consideration and addressed.

“I have high respect for CodeBlue. They have pointed out certain things which will be taken into consideration and addressed.

“But next time, verify the facts in total before coming out with articles,” he said.