Alarm over police raid on UMMC

Malay Mail By Frankie D'Cruz DOCTORS are alarmed over the recent police seizure of material records and tissue samples of A. Kugan from the University Malaya Medical Centre pathologist’s office. Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president-elect Dr David K.L. Quek, speaking to Malay Mail in his personal capacity, summed up the views of many in the medical fraternity. “This arbitrary seizure is reprehensible, unprecedented and breaches normal procedures of medico-legal discovery. “Usually, detailed reports are obtained only from court-approved injunctions and demands.” Other doctors were also aghast that the police had intercepted and seized the tissue samples for toxicology tests by an independent laboratory in Australia. Said Dr Quek: “Toxicological studies should always be allowed to enable proper and independent discovery of the truth. “Denial of such a legitimate avenue for forensic finding would prejudice the police. “Further, it would make their action that much more difficult to accept or to tolerate.” Dr Quek noted that medical records and details were nominally the property of the physician in charge or the facility where he practises. These, he added, should only be made available under a court order. “They are usually never confiscated or seized by any enforcement authority.” He said there were clear procedures to be followed, and were well articulated in handbooks for the police and enforcement authorities, clearly established by the UN Centre for Human Rights. “Such extrajudicial actions should never be made in a climate of intimidating circumstances just because these events may mar the good name and professionalism of the police force,” he added. Kugan, an insurance claims executive, was arrested on Jan 15 on suspicion of stealing luxury cars. He died five days later at the USJ Taipan police station in Subang Jaya. Initially, police said there was “no foul play” but following public outcry, the Attorney-General reclassified the case as murder. Two separate post-mortems were done on Kugan, each giving a different cause of death. An independent committee that studied the two post-mortem reports found that the injuries on Kugan were not sufficient to cause his death. Dr Quek said: “This inquiry added to the confusion of being a third interpretation into Kugan’s death and did not refute the probability of torture.” Kugan’s family has rubbished the committee’s findings, questioning how it could have come up with a cause of death despite not having the benefit of doing another post-mortem.