Part 2 The Gates of Hell Home at Kuala Kubu Baru

Where the Ray of Hope was extinguished

The Mindful Mariner's own comments:

This so called sheltered home (it is more like a Hell Hole) belongs to and is run by the Malaysian Government, through the Department of Social Welfare which is under the control of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.

Disciplinary action needs to be taken from top to bottom, at both the Ministry & the Department; in fact the honourable thing initially, would be for the Minister (Sharizat Abdul Jalil) and the DG of the Social Welfare Department (Meme Zainal Rashid) to resign forthwith.

Then all types of care homes, shelters, orphanages and other similar institutions, public and private, should thoroughly checked and independently audited. After that they should all, without exception, be required to be operated to impeccable international standards of best practice.

Subsequently the Social Welfare Department should conduct regular frequent and comprehensive inspections of all shelters, care homes and orphanages for the disadvantaged in Malaysian society.

To ensure:

1. They are all fully equipped, sanitary and are run in a professional, caring, humane way.

2. That the are staffed by sufficient numbers of qualified, able, caring and dedicated staff.

3. That all the residents receive good quality, nutritional healthy food in sufficient quantities.

4. That all residents receive regular medical examinations and adequate health care.

And many other things, about which others are better qualified than me, need to be set out in full clearly mandating what has to be done.

PS But I am not too hopeful that effective sustained action will be taken.

There will be buckets of faux tears, sympathetic [or perhaps a better word is pathetic] remarks, much empty talking, but very little or more likely no effective action, as per usual!!!!

Commented on 05 July 2009 at 20:52

Reactions:

The statements by th Malaysian Bar Council:

Bar Council constitutional law committee chairman Edmund Bon said he was shocked to learn how the residents were being treated, describing it as “cruel and degrading”.

Statement by a human rights lawyer:

Amer Hamzah, human rights lawyer called on those responsible for the care of the residents to be charged with a criminal offence should there be any evidence of physical abuse resulting from the treatment.

See the news report HERE

Lots of reaction and a flurry of what is probably an attempt at 'clearing yardarms' and 'reactive damage control' from the government and their agencies:

Civil servants from the Social Welfare Department, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, volunteers and hoards of media personnel descended upon the home on Sunday 5^th July 2009, after the wicked, cruel and degrading conditions there were exposed by the Star newspaper.

Minister of Health Liow Tiong Lai, reportedly ordered his staff to check on the residents of the home in Kuala Kubu Baru, and said he was wants those who are confirmed to have mental problems, to be transferred to government hospital psychiatric wards for treatment.

Click HERE

Other related Stories HERE, HERE, & HERE

Oh Shit! Add a little to a little, and there will be a great heap.*

Watch out for the swarms of politicians!

*Adde parum parvo, magnus acervus erit

Of course the politicians involved, and their minions, will now be buzzing around like flies round a turd trying to gain political mileage out of the misery they have directly or indirectly inflicted on the inmates of government run shelter homes.

"Politicians love visible beneficiaries and invisible victims." Dr. Walter Williams

"God has no role to play in politics except to make sure politicians go where they belong. To hell." P.J. O'Rourke

"If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." H. L. Mencken

Human Rights in Malaysia: Different Day, Same Shit

So June 2009 is already here, and we are not that far away from the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, yet in many ways Malaysia is still, it seems, in the middle ages!

Malaysia still has many archaic, draconian and loosely worded 'catch-all' laws which result in people receiving, inhuman, cruel, degrading punishments.

Prisons, Detention Camps and the illegal immigrant Detention Centres run by the immigration department are all places where the living conditions, the food, the health care and the general facilities are to say the least appalling and inhuman.

The recent outbreak of leptosporosis at the illegal immigrant Detention Centre near Juru recently is a case in point, which highlights how unhealthy and insanitary such places are.

Prisons should provide reasonable living conditions, nutritious food, clean water and be fit for purpose. Surely it is punishment enough to be locked up away from family and friends, without the addition suffering cause by inhuman and unhealthy living conditions.

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners

Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolution 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977

This old set of Rules, lays down minimum standards, one can but wonder even if these basic minimum standards are met in Malaysia even now in the 21st Century.

Click HERE for more information.

Dum inter homines sumus, colamus humanitatem


As long as we are among humans, let us be humane


Ut sementem feceris, ita metes


As you sow, so shall you reap

Amnesty International Malaysia

THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2009 ON MALAYSIA was recently published, and in it you can read what this report says, you will find if you click HERE

Headlines cover such things as:

Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of he press are denied in Malaysia

Detention without trial, is a common practice, which is condoned by evil laws

Excessive use of force by the multitude of enforcement authorities in Malaysia is not uncommon

Migrants have few if any rights, refugees and asylum-seekers are not afforded adequate protection

True freedom of religion is not practised

Discrimination is common, and in fact it is the norm in many instances

The Death Penalty is still in force in Malaysia and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments are still standard practice.

Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum


So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds

Visit Malaysia You May Catch Exotic Diseases, Malaysia Truly Infected!

Please visit Malaysia, but take precautions and be aware that:


Malaysia currently has outbreaks of leptospirosis, meningitis, viral acute pericarditis, and recently has had outbreaks of other diseases such a cholera, what is happening, it seems obvious that the health care system and standards of sanitation and hygiene are rapidly deteriorating in 21st Century Malaysia.

These are a few vexing questions:

Is the primary health care system in Malaysia failing?

Are the local town and city councils not doing their job, with respect to providing efficient sanitation and waste disposal facilities?

Is the basic education system flawed?

Are the people of Malaysia ignorant, or perhaps apathetic, or lackadaisical, about the need to be civic conscious?

Do some Malaysians, and immigrant workers, lack the basic knowledge about personal hygiene and cleanliness?

Or

Has the Malaysia now been well and truly cursed?


One can but wonder about the latter!

But the answer to the early questions must surely be a resounding YES.

What is next, outbreaks of Coxsackie A & B virus?

Malaysia already has increases in the number of cases of Malaria, Dengue haemorrhagic fever and Chikunkunya, and Typhoid.

This letter, from the Malaysia Today web site, in some ways, hits the nail on the head, it is entitled:

'Malaysia’s public health nightmare may already have begun and could explode at any time. The signs are there.'

Click HERE to read it

Leptospirosis, news report HERE

Meningitis, news report HERE & HERE

Acute pericarditis, news report HERE

Meanwhile in Penang, many new cases of..........
Dengue, Chikungunya and Malaria recently

There were, as reported in the media, 334 dengue, 38 chikungunya and 49 malaria cases between 10th and 16th May 2009.

Sat sapienti


Enough for a wise man

In Malaysia: 2,571 people died in detention the nine years 1999 to 2008

That is a average of about 4 persons every 5 days, that is a shameful and most damning statistic.

Do prisoners not get any health care and are they denied proper medical treatment in Malaysia? Going by these statistics, it certainly looks like that is the case!

A total of 2,571 prisoners died while being held in Malaysia's prisons, rehabilitation centres and illegal immigrant detention depots during the nine years between 1999 and 2008, Malaysia's Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said in an answer he gave in parliament recently.

The causes of death included HIV/AIDS, septicaemia, tuberculosis, cancer, heart and blood diseases and asthma.

He said some detainees also died due to suicides and fights.

A total of 153 persoms died while in police custody during the same period, he told opposition MP Liew Chin Tong (DAP – Bukit Bendera) in a written reply. (It is unclear if these 153 are in addition to, or included in the figure of 2,571 people given earlier.

Is is also a reported fact that some detainees died as a result of assaults by the police whilst in custody, but presumably the minister conveniently omitted this information.

Diligite justitiam, o judices terrae

Cherish justice, o judges of the earth

50% shortage of specialist doctors in government hospitals in Malaysia

Hippocratic Oath -- Classical Version

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.


Translation from the Greek by Ludwig Edelstein. From The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation, by Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943.

Hippocratic Oath—Modern Version


I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:



I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.



I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.



I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.



I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.



I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.



I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.



I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.



I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.



If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.




Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University,
and used in many medical schools today.

There is a acute shortage of l,800 specialists in government (public) hospitals throughout Malaysia.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that government hospitals have to operate with only 50 per cent of their specialist doctor strength.

He said the Ministry of Health needed 3,600 specialists to serve in government hospitals but at present there were only l,800 specialists employed.

"The Health Ministry is concerned over the shortage. It is finding ways to encourage more Malaysian specialists working overseas to return to work in the hospitals," Liow told reporters.

This is not a new phenomena, in has fact it has gradually been getting worse year by year.

What about the large number of Malaysian specialists who are working in the many very expensive private hospitals which have sprung up throughout Malaysia in recent years?

These hospitals are far beyond the reach of a large percentage of Malaysians, I hazard a guess at say 85% or more!

Can some of these specialists not be lured back to serve in public government hospitals?

Specialists from the public sector are currently allowed to work in private hospitals at weekends, why can the private hospital not provide health and medical care to the general public to take the load of the government hospitals?

The public are suffering less than adequate medical and health care due to severe shortage of specialist, doctors, nurses and ancillary health and medical personnel in the public sector.

There are many fine specialists, medical officers and other personnel still serving in the public hospitals, but overall it seems that the government medical services staffing is bottom heavy, and is in some areas possibly overstaffed. The clinical staff, are obviously overworked and are trying to cope with an immense work overload, thus the patients have to suffer long delays and in some cases perhaps less than optimum treatment.

The solution will not be simple, but urgent practical and effective measures need to be taken now, before it is a case of too little too late!

In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas

- In necessary things unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all things charity