KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — The increase in domestic violence cases at Kuala Lumpur Hospital shows that more medical practitioners can spot abuse and report it to the authorities, the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) said.
WAO executive director Sumitra Visvanathan said that the tenfold increase reported in the media was likely not a sign of an increase in domestic violence, but rather just more cases being reported instead of going unaddressed like before.
“WAO’s response to that is that we believe that what is happening is a positive thing in that the hospital staff and the medical professionals are basically getting better at identifying and responding to domestic violence,” she said in a recent phone interview with Malay Mail Online.
On Saturday, national newswire Bernama quoted Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Department head, Prof Datuk Seri Dr Abu Hassan Asaari Abdullah, as saying that the number of reported domestic violence cases increased from about 20 to 30 a day in previous months to 150 cases, all of which were referred to the hospital’s One Stop Crisis Centres (OSCC).
Sumitra explained, however, that the increase was also partly due to the WAO’s collaborative efforts with local hospitals to train medical staff to identify symptoms of abuse and to react to them appropriately.
“Domestic violence has always been prevalent, we know that. Studies have shown its prevalence in Malaysia. Our concern has always been that the frontliners may not know enough about domestic violence so they may not be responding accordingly.
“The WAO has been very involved in training and raising awareness. It’s that collaboration and it’s benefits that we’re seeing right now. They have a better capacity to identify and respond to domestic violence,” she said.
Apart from Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Sumitra said WAO has also been training staff at University Hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital and the Klang Hospital OSCC on issues such as domestic violence.
