Don’t Jail Doctors Blog Campaign
posted in - Nation, - Palmdoc |*** This post is a sticky and will remain as such until Dr. Basmullah is freed ***
*** Update : After spending 60 days in jail, Dr. Basmullah was released on March 18, 2008 ***
Calling all doctor and student bloggers and anyone who can help. The Government has begun to arrest and jail doctors on a technicality - not registering their clinic with the PHFSA. This act treats doctors like common criminals. These are community doctors who have not committed a serious crime but instead face an incredibly harsh sentence for their technical lapse. Dr Basmullah Yusof, a family practitioner, is the first victim of this legislation. He was sentenced despite not having legal counsel representing him, despite pleading for leniency (he had wanted to sell the clinic anyway and is in financial trouble) and as he could not pay the hefty RM 120,000 fine, he is now in Kajang prison.
You can read more about it in
The 1st clinic doctor convicted under the PHFSA
and
The 1st clinic doctor convicted under the PHFSA (II)
The ex-Health Minister had promised that the Act would be used only against Bogus doctors and Bogus clinics. To date we are not aware of any Bogus doctor arrested and jailed under the Act, yet, we see that legitimate licensed APC holding medical practitioners are now being targeted.
Facts about the PHFSA:
- this was implemented in 2006 without adequate prior discussion with the medical profession
- it is excessively harsh in its punitive aspects : up to 500,000 ringgit fine or jail which seems to be over the top
- it has huge potential for abuse of power
- it criminalizes doctors for “infringements” which include trivial issues like the dimensions of one’s clinic, direction in which your toilet door swings and dictates whether or not you can sweep your floor!
In support of Dr. Basmullah, we urge all of you to put up this logo in your Blogs and Websites until this travesty of justice is reversed. Please download or link to the above image.
To aid you, you may use the following code, copy and paste in a suitable place in your website/blog:
(Credit to dranony of the MMR Forums for designing the logo)
If you don’t have a website you can also help out by printing out posters, for distribution and pasting in your clinic/office door/wall. Help publicise this travesty of justice!
Thanks go out to fellow bloggers for their support:
Bernard
Chang Yang
Doc Chan
DrRizad
Fibrate
Fooji
Jimbo
Mott
Pilocarpine
Yan
Yenjai
UM Medical Class of 1979
Malaysian Politics
What A Lulu
the __earthinc
palmo anest
Gene’s files
Reflection
YP
license to spill
dR_Skybl@z€r.n3t
Shahieddah
Has
Jing
miqdadrules
Crimsonmaverick
Random Musings from a Doctor’s Chair
doc1s1n
Minci
Kiwi-bird
Incompletetask
Zi Yang
Fluid Immobility
Khairul-o-rama
Medicboyz
ibnhussinRabbani
d . y . t . i . a
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March 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
I sms’d the contacts in the MMR Forums and I have just been informed that Dr. Basmullah was released on March 18.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
Added your link, thanks. No news so far. It will be coming to two months in jail soon if he were not…
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 am
logo is up on my blog.
Any updates on Dr B’s fate?