About 100 nurses of X Hospital here staged a protest on 11/8/10 but im not in the picture -over claims that they were badly treated and humiliated by the hospital management.
The nurses, who are members of the Union of Employees of Private Medical and Health Services, formed a picket line in front of the hospital to voice their unhappiness.
Union secretary M. Krishnan said the protest was held as the management of X Hospital had poorly managed a theft allegation.
Last month, a patient had reported that his hand-phone was missing. After a search by security personnel, the hand-phone was found in a room where linen was stored and it was returned to the patient.
Two staff nurses who were on duty at the time and a student nurse were named as suspects.
The hospital's officers then lodged a police report on behalf of the patient. The two staff nurses were taken to the Sea Park police station where they were questioned by the police.
Miss Y, 23, one of the nurses involved, said: "The incident happened about 11.45am and the hand-phone was found about 12.30pm the same day. The patient was warded in a single room which was locked and although I was on duty, I had no knowledge of the theft until later.
"The action taken by the management of the hospital to lodge a police report traumatized me. They threatened to issue a show cause letter to me and my colleague if either one of us did not confess to the crime. We were also threatened by the police who claimed that we could be held for seven days in relation to the crime," said Kong.
Miss Tan, 23, the other nurse who was accused of the crime, said they were told they had to go to the police station for routine questioning and did not expect to be harassed.
"At the station, there was no representative from the hospital and there was no female police officer during the questioning."
The nurses were released after being questioned.
Tan said they then contacted the union on the matter as the management did not apologies for putting them through the ordeal. The union had advised them to lodge a counter report against the hospital's management for treating them like criminals and breaching their confidence.
"The management's action was uncalled for as it was too harsh and had caused embarrassment to the nurses," said Krishnan.
In response to the protest, X Hospital Petaling Jaya's chief executive officer MR Chong said the nurses' claims that they were badly treated was baseless.
"There has been an increase in the number of thefts at the hospital this year.
"The management had not acted irresponsibly in any way as our actions were carried out to protect both the staff and patients.
"We are responsible for the welfare of all our patients while they are in our care and we have to keep the hospital safe. It was also our duty to lodge the police report. It was regrettable that the protest took place without any notice to us as we had hoped for the support of the staff in addressing the matter."
He added that the hospital's stand was explained to the staff at a meeting.
from this ,very disappointing to this hospital ...how came they can treat the nurses like that?
how nurses trust the management of this hospital?some more this missing hand-phone only 150ringgit-nokia 3310.....u thin nurses no money to buy hp?nurses need this cheap cheap hp.....for wat......
sometimes, we can buy more model hp like i-phone......
