Iris Koh seeks court's nod for cancer treatment in Malaysia

Iris Koh, founder of anti-vaccine group Healing the Divide, has requested to go to Malaysia during an ongoing court case to seek treatment for thyroid cancer, the court heard yesterday.

District Judge Ng Peng Hong said her condition does not appear to be life-threatening and called for an adjournment until June 22, asking for more details.

The application was made by her new defence counsel, Mr Wee Pan Lee, who said Koh, 46, suffered from cancer and had been recommended by Singapore General Hospital to undergo surgery to remove her thyroid gland.

But she wanted a second opinion from foreign doctors, said Mr Wee, adding that Koh was also diagnosed with Graves' disease, an immune system disorder that affects the thyroid gland.

Koh has made appointments at Mahkota Medical Centre in Malacca and Aenon Health Care in Negeri Sembilan during her planned trip between June 19 and July 22. She will first visit Mahkota and a doctor there will recommend a course of treatment at Aenon, said the lawyer.

He filed a document yesterday for Koh to visit a third institution - Spectrum of Life - in Kuala Lumpur during the planned trip.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jiang Ke-Yue questioned the need for such a lengthy period of travel. He added that the documents did not show any link between the medical centres.

"Where one provides more documents that raise more questions than answers, that itself lends to the inference that there is a potential flight risk. We are not saying that there will be, but we need more information to be in a better position to agree to travel. The appropriate cause would be an adjournment," he said.

Agreeing with the prosecution, the judge said: "This condition does not appear to be life-threatening at this point in time based on the submissions I have heard."

Koh's bail was extended and she will return to court on June 22. She was earlier accused of conspiring with general practitioner Jipson Quah to make false representations to the Ministry of Health that unvaccinated people were given the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, when they were not.

Quah, who has been suspended from practising medicine for 18 months, was also charged with fraud by false representation and granted bail.

In February, Koh was handed another charge over ripping up a printed copy of her statement recorded at a police station.

She had been hospitalised prior to her court hearing on Jan 28, but her condition was not mentioned in court then.

If found guilty of conspiring to make false representations to the Health Ministry, Koh could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.