PETALING JAYA: The Perak Health Department has confirmed to have reprimanded a medical officer after discovering that a doctor was being bullied by a colleague.
Following the social media post of the abuse by Dr Aidid Nawawi Ghazali last Sunday (Dec 1), an internal investigation was initiated by the by the health department, according to Free Malaysia Today.
The state health department director Dr Feisul Idzwan Mustapha said a committee was formed on June 4, which was the day the bullying took place, and found that the complaint was “legitimate”, as quoted.
The statement added that the medical officer was issued a letter of reprimand on July 31 by the hospital director.
Aidid also received a copy of the investigation report on August 1.
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He was also offered counselling by the state health department.
Feisul added the state health department also set up an independent committee for the purpose of investigating the incident.
“The health ministry views bullying and aggression seriously. We have zero tolerance for any form of violence in the workplace,” Feisul was quoted as saying.
Earlier in 2020, it was found that 66.9% of the country’s doctors admitted to being bullied while in service to the public.
The most affected age groups in this issue are those aged between 26 and 35, with statistics from the Malaysian Medical Association indicating that they were trainee doctors.
The Health Ministry, in October, said guidelines would be issued for managing the bullying in the workplace for its staff through the National Centre of Excellence for Mental Health.