Judge Akhtar Tahir said a hospital assistant from Kuala Lipis Hospital, who conducted the procedure elsewhere in the morning, attempted to attach the tip of the penis by stitching it back.

He said the hospital assistant informed the hospital about the incident and was advised to send the man to the hospital.

Akhtar said the Kuala Lipis Hospital should have immediately prepared an ambulance to send the plaintiff to the Selayang Hospital.

“By delaying the transfer to the Selayang Hospital and instead spending time in completing trivialities, this court finds the first defendant (the Kuala Lipis Hospital medical officer) to have breached her duty of care to provide prompt treatment,” he said.

The judge also said Selayang Hospital’s medical personnel did not take steps to prepare for a possible surgery despite being informed about the case earlier.

“There were further delays in carrying out the surgery which was performed late in the evening, some 10 hours after the incident,” he said in his written judgment released last week.

He found that Selayang Hospital’s medical personnel breached their duty of care in delaying the surgery.

On April 7, Akhtar awarded the 22-year-old man RM108,356 in special damages, RM2 million in general damages, RM500,000 in aggravated damages and another RM500,000 in exemplary damages.

The government has filed an appeal against liability and quantum of damages awarded.

The other four defendants are the Kuala Lipis Hospital’s medical officer and director and the Selayang Hospital’s specialist and director.

Akhtar said he chose to accept the testimony of two expert witnesses that a delay in the surgery made it impossible to conduct a successful surgery.

He said the unsuccessful attempt to reattach the tip of the penis had caused the plaintiff emotional and physical distress.

“The main loss suffered by the plaintiff is the loss of the most valuable asset a man can have,” he said, adding that “no woman knowing the plaintiff’s condition will want to marry him”.

He said the victim’s mother, while testifying, said her son had become an introvert after the incident.

He said the court thought it fit to also award exemplary damages, and punitive damages of RM1 million in this case as there was a flagrant disregard by the defendants to ensure speedy treatment as well as showing complete apathy to the injury suffered.

The man filed the suit on July 19, 2018, through his mother, claiming that the circumcision was not done according to procedure, resulting in the entire head of the penis being severed.