PUTRAJAYA: The High Court will proceed with the trials of three negligence lawsuits filed by the parents of three patients who died in a fire at Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru Hospital in 2016. This comes after senior federal counsel Zahilah Mohammad Yusoff, who represents the hospital director, health director-general, Health Ministry, the government of Malaysia, and the Johor health director, decided to withdraw their applications to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision. The Court of Appeal had overturned a ruling by the High Court in February last year, which had previously dismissed the lawsuits. Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, the Chief Judge of Malaya, chaired the three-member bench of the Federal Court and struck out the leave applications.
The decision of the Court of Appeal, which the government sought leave to appeal against, was regarded as an interlocutory matter pertaining to the statute of limitations. Justice Mohamad Zabidin proposed that it would be more appropriate for the trial to proceed at the High Court, allowing the government to argue on the issues relating to the Government’s Proceedings Act and the statute of limitations. Justice Abu Bakar emphasized the importance of resolving these issues at the High Court, as its decision can still be appealed. The parents’ lawyer, S. Gunasegaran, assured that the government would not be disadvantaged and could argue its point on the statute of limitations at the High Court.
Consequently, Zahilah agreed to withdraw the leave application to appeal. The three patients’ parents, Logeswaran Krishnasamy, Choo Lin Fong, and Kaliama Muniandy, filed their negligence lawsuits in 2019, accusing the hospital and government of negligence in connection with the fire incident at the south intensive care unit ward, which resulted in the deaths of six patients on October 25, 2016. In May of this year, the Court of Appeal allowed the parents’ appeals to overturn the High Court ruling that had previously dismissed their lawsuits. The High Court had dismissed the lawsuits on the grounds that they were “time-barred” due to the three-year statute of limitations imposed by Section 2(a) of the Public Authorities Protection Act (PAPA) 1948. – Bernama
Credit: The Star : News Feed
