“What we said in 2015 still stands today.
“Both the health ministry and Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) are clear about this,” he told FMT.
In April 2015, Noor Hisham was reported as reminding doctors to take their Hippocratic oath seriously and not to cause any harm to people.
This was in view of Kelantan pushing for implementation of hudud in the state then.
Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam was also quoted as saying that the ministry would not allow its doctors to perform amputations on criminals.
Noor Hisham’s comments come in light of a recent interview where Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah was quoted as saying that contemporary Islamic scholars were of the opinion that the services of surgeons were needed in carrying out punitive amputation to ensure that no part of the body beyond one’s wrists was harmed.
Three prominent Muslim doctors of medicine had voiced outrage over the Kelantan government’s proposal to use the services of surgeons in amputating the hands of thieves found guilty under hudud law.
The three were Islamic Renaissance Front director Ahmad Farouk Musa, who is a cardiothoracic surgeon, California-based surgeon and political commentator M Bakri Musa and Kota Raja MP Siti Mariah Mahmud, a doctor who used to teach medicine at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Earlier today, Noor Hisham went on Facebook and shared an FMT report headlined “Muslim docs say no to punitive amputation.”
“We must not violate our professional oath of doing no harm to the human body. As stated ‘Primum non nocere’ which means ‘first, do no harm’.”
Speaking to FMT, Noor Hisham said regardless of what may happen in the future, the role of medical practitioners will always be to heal.
“Hudud or otherwise, surgeons and doctors must not be made executioners.”