Health Ministry rejects committee's study on Bukit Koman

The Health Ministry will conduct its own study on the alleged skin disease faced by residents in Bukit Koman, Raub.

This comes following the failure of the Ban Cyanide Action Committee (BCAC) to explain the findings of its study which was conducted in July.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shirlin told the Dewan Rakyat today that although BCAC had been commissioned by the ministry to conduct the study, their findings were questionable.

“Clearly the procedures used (by BCAC) is very general as there was no specific time frame set to conduct the study and those questioned were not randomly selected," said Rosnah.

“Although the study showed that 78 per cent of residents in the area had suffered skin disease, we cannot accept the findings because of these reasons.

To resolve the matter, Rosnah said the ministry and BCAC agreed to conduct a joint-survey by forming a team comprising of experts from both parties.

"But after four months, BCAC failed to submit a list of experts for the joint-survey team, forcing the study to be put on hold."

“The joint team is supposed to conduct research, analysis and provide a summary of their findings to the ministry and we even agreed to bear the full cost including transport, accommodation and meal allowances for the experts," she said.

Rosnah added that the ministry had also sent a concept framework to BCAC and she hopes the committee will respond soon.

"We will nevertheless conduct our own study if they fail to get back to us," she said.

Earlier, Hee Loy Sian (PKR - Petaling Jaya Selatan) had asked the government to state the outcome of the investigation conducted by the ministry on the alleged skin disease faced by the residents in the area.

She added the ministry will still wait for a response from BCAC but will proceed to conduct their own study if BCAC does not respond.

The ministry had also requested for assistance from the World Health Organisation to provide technical aid to ensure the survey is truly scientific and meets international standards.

Residents in Bukit Koman had earlier blamed the usage of cyanide in a gold mine in the area as the reason some of them suffering from skin problems.