Johor hit and run case: Language barrier led to miscommunication - Tan's friend

A friend of Justinian Tan, the 25-year-old Singaporean man who died due to injuries sustained in a road accident in Johor Bahru, said language barrier may have resulted in miscommunication with the staff of Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) on Aug 25.

"When the accident happened, a lot of things were going on at once, so the wait for help to come felt really long then. I thought it took 30 minutes but their logs said differently," said Joshua De Rozario, 25, in responding to the Malaysia Ministry of Health (MOH)'s statement issued on Friday.

He was quoted by The Straits Times as saying there could have been miscommunication at the hospital as the staff "were speaking Malay and we were speaking English and we had difficulties communicating".

"So many of us go to JB just for supper or shopping and we don't actually know what to do when something happens there," he said.

"That's the point we want to convey. It's not about wanting to get revenge, because that is not going to bring Justinian back. We want to move on," he added.

On Friday, MOH had said that there was no delay or demand for payment by HSA before treating Tan.

MOH's statement came after a Singapore-based online news portal reported that the deceased sustained critical injuries following that accident and alleged that there was a slow respond time by the ambulance from HSA of up to 30 minutes.

The victim died after he and five of his friends had just finished having supper and were walking back to their car at about 3 am when a Proton Saga collided into the group and sped off.

Tan, who was later transferred to Singapore General Hospital, died five days later after being taken off life support.

-- BERNAMA