KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Tuaran chief Ansari Abdullah wants a public apology from Deputy Minister of Health Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin for dismissing his claim of poor service at the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan as “baseless”.
Ansari shows the bruises caused by the “huge” IV needle.
“In view of this, I give Rosnah 24 hours to apologise to me publicly,” said Ansari who had sought treatment in the hospital after he was injured in a fall into the sea while campaigning in the Batu Sapi by-election.
“She also has a choice of facing me in a debate…name the place and time I will come or I will sue her, the hospital and the Government. I have instructed my lawyer Razak Jamil to send a letter of demand telling her that we will sue her, Dr Aziz and the hospital,” he said.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Ansari said if they had apologised, he would have forgotten about the whole thing.
“But since she (Rosnah) is trying to dispute my integrity… I am a senior lawyer of the bar, she is just a junior lawyer. This is very unethical for a junior lawyer to insult a senior lawyer like me,” he said.
“If Rosnah is a Hajah telling the truth, I challenge her to bring my case notes and x-ray to be examined by independent doctors so that the world will know who is lying. Haji Ansari or Hajah Rosnah,” he said, adding, “nobody has ever called me a liar before except for this bread giver from Papar… I call her bread giver because I saw her giving out hampers on the eve of the election.”
The issue, he said, was not about ‘Ansari’, but was about the standard of medical services and facilities offered by the second largest town in the state which is also represented by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Peter Pang and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk VK Liew.
Ansari said that he was shocked by Rosnah’s attitude, for stating that his claim was baseless.
Rosnah, he added, had never answered the six points that he raised, namely why was there no physical examination done on him when he went to see Dr Aziz after his accident.
“No x-ray was done on my shoulder. Why did Dr Aziz who is a medical officer fail to detect the fractures on my last two ribs? Why is the Sandakan Duchess of Kent Hospital which is on top of a hill flooded after half an hour of light rain?” he asked.
Ansari claimed that on his second visit to the hospital, the attending medical personnel had immediately inserted a “huge” IV needle into his hand, one that is normally used when treating people involved in an accident, getting a blood transfusion or in labour.
“My hand is still bruised. I checked with my personal physician and was told that it should not have been more than a size 22 needle,” he said but stressed that the doctor in attendance then, Dr Zahida was very competent.
“It is reported in the case notes that I suffered two cracked ribs but she (Rosnah) said I am dramatizing the whole thing,” he said, adding that the standard of the hospital in Sandakan belonged to a fourth world country.
Ansari who contested in the Batu Sapi by-election also said that PKR had gathered evidence of money politics employed by the Barisan Nasional (BN) during campaigning in the constituency.
“We were also given photographs and video recording of Puteri Umno giving handouts in cash and kind. We will document the evidence properly and we will distribute to show the world how BN wins an election,” he said.
However, PKR will not be lodging any official report on the alleged incidents because according to Ansari, to do so is just a waste of time.
“We are wasting time reporting to SPR, MACC and police because no action will be taken,” he said.
To a question whether he would be filing an election petition against the results, Ansari said that he has had enough of election petitions.
“I don’t trust our judicial system. After what happened in the Pensiangan case, I don’t trust our judicial system anymore,” he said.
Ansari also alleged that there was an incident at the Karamunting polling centre where an Umno branch chief unzipped his trousers and showed something to the wife of PKR Sandakan branch chief, Hassnar Ibrahim.
“I have personally lodged a police report on the incident and will be going over to Sandakan to give my statement. This shows that there is a pattern of provocation by BN leaders. However, we managed to restrain our people from reacting,” he said and claimed that the PGA personnel at the polling centre was seen signaling to the man to leave the area.
Ansari again said that as far as SAPP was concerned, PKR maintains its stand that they should not waste time trying to do it alone but instead they should come back to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) immediately and discuss how they could work together because time is not on their side.
“We should not waste our resources and time trying to compete with each other, we should work with each other and compliment each other. Come up to areas of agreement, identify the seats because PR can sit down among themselves but that is not enough.
“We need SAPP and the other Opposition parties to come and join PR because in this case PR works as a team and this cooperation was seen when top leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP were campaigning in Sandakan for the by-election.
“I admit that some of the state leaders were nowhere to be seen and it’s up to the party to take whatever action that is necessary,” he said.