Raising an alarm that hospitals are no longer a safe place to work in, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) demanded today that the authorities investigate the beating up of a junior doctor at the Malacca Hospital by an army officer.

The doctor suffered severe facial and eye injuries, along with suspected fracture of the jaw, in the beating he received on Tuesday night. MMA said it was shocked by the lack of security to protect hospital staff at the hospital.

"Doctors need to be protected while at work... This assault that has caused grievous injury is a criminal offence.

"What were the security guards doing along the non-hospital staff entry area and permitting such an incident to take place?" MMA president Dr NKS Tharmaseelan asked in a statement.

According to Tharmaseelan, it was later learned that the army officer was the husband of a nurse attached with the hospital. There may have been a quarrel involved, but this still did not excuse the very violent assault, he said.  

"Taking matters into their own hands is despicable behaviour. The MMA hopes the army authorities will take appropriate action against the officer concerned," he said.

If anything, the nurse involved should have made a complaint with the director of the hospital or the appropriate authorities "if the doctor was responsible in any way for any perceived provocation.

"The MMA does not condone any form of violence against any health staff, including doctors," Tharmaseelan said.