Chandra S/O Sundram

NAME: CHANDRA S/O SUNDRAM

ASSISTANCE NEEDED: SOCSO BENEFIT

NATURE OF THE CASE: Chandra started working in an electrical goods manufacturing company, SANYO Malaysia in 1971. He worked there for almost 30 years. In 2001 he fell down while cleaning the chimney at his work place, hitting a beam and hurting his neck, but when he visited the doctor, he was certified well. As a result of this accident he developed chronic lower back pain and swelling in the neck.

The swelling and the lower back pain increased gradually until he felt numbness in his arms and legs. The time off from work due to his trips to the doctors, despite associated medical certificates, didn’t augur well with company management. His job was terminated based on a report from a specialist doctor from the Ipoh Government Hospital. The doctor reported of a growth in his neck and waist bone (spondyliosis). He gave the letter to the company stating that he would not be able to carry out his normal duties.

As a next course of action, Chandra applied for the SOCSO pension in 2002. He was certified well by the panel doctors even though he provided a report from the specialist.

It was a very stressful period of time for him. Not only was he unemployed, he had to make multiple trips to the doctor and deal with unbearable pain. An overdose of penicillin resulted in his skin turning pale and white. This made matters worse because his skin could not be exposed to the sunlight or an air conditioned environment.

The worst blow for him was when his family alienated themselves from him because of his inability to find a job and his skin condition. He had to resort to begging around for food and money and has been sleeping in temples, verandahs or alleyways.

He made another attempt to obtain the SOCSO benefit in 2004. He was called to appear before an appellate board in 2005. SOCSO was represented by the State Director and he agreed to release the pension on the condition that Chandra provide a new report. He thus had to repeat the entire excruciating process of filing a written report and an MRI report which was previously submitted in June 2005.

This time around; without an apparent reason; he was directed by the Ipoh SOCSO office to attend a review by panel doctors at Taiping office. He reported the same but again he was directed to get a new medical report. Frustrated; he obtained one from the regular Specialist in Ipoh general Hospital.

The panel doctor who viewed his report at Taiping SOCSO office pronounced that he was not suffering from an illness which is normally covered by pension payment.

After that he approached us for guidance. We advised him to resubmit his application and if the decision was not in his favor then we would appeal to the appellate board and get him a council from Malaysian Trade Union to argue his case.

Consequently, there was a review of his case. He has been asked to attend the doctor’s panel in Penang. We have asked Chandra to inform us after attending it for further advice from our part. However we have lost contact with him.