Footage of training exercise shared in false posts about 'stabbing victims' at Malaysian hospital

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 14, 2022 at 11:17
Updated on September 14, 2022 at 11:35
2 min read
By AFP Malaysia

Footage of medics tending to two men, one of whom appears to have a large knife protruding from his chest, has been viewed thousands of times after it circulated in social media posts claiming it shows victims of a bloody fight at Taiping Hospital in the Malaysian state of Perak. However, the footage shows hospital staff taking part in a training exercise. Local police said there had been no reports of a stabbing at the hospital.

"Taiping Hospital cooks fighting," reads an English-language post shared on Facebook on August 25, 2022.

The 34-second video, which has garnered more than 490 views, shows medics carrying two men who appear to be covered in blood on stretchers. One man clutches at a knife that appears to be sticking out of his chest.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on September 13, 2022

Taiping Hospital is a government-run hospital in Taiping, in Malaysia's state of Perak.

The video has racked up 2,800 views after it circulated alongside a similar claim in Chinese here and here, as well as in Malay on Facebook and on YouTube.

However, the claim is false.

A keyword search on Google found a statement from local police in Taiping clarifying that the video showed a training exercise.

"On 24 August 2022 (Wednesday) around 11.50am to 1.00pm, the Taiping Hospital, in co-operation with the Taiping Fire & Rescue Station, held a fire simulation exercise at the Taiping Hospital's Department of Dietetics & Nutrition," reads the Malaysian-language statement, posted on Facebok on August 25, 2022.

It said the video "attracted the attention of people who were in the area" and subsequently spread on Facebook in a false context, but the exercise was "purely training for 54 hospital staff" on disaster management procedures.

Assistant police superintendent Rozaina Ahmad of Perak Police told AFP on September 13, 2022, that there had been no reports of a stabbing at the hospital.

'Five-star actors'

Taiping Hospital published a statement on its Facebook page on August 25, 2022, praising the "five-star actors" who took part in the exercise.

"The 2022 Taiping Hospital Fire Simulation Training held at the Dietetics and Nutrition Department is an annual activity organised by the Hospital Supervisor Unit and the Taiping Fire and Rescue Station in collaboration with Edgenta Mediserve," it said.

A total of 54 staff members took part in the drill, it added.

A Facebook group that shares local news in Perak also posted a news report about the exercise, as well as a photo of one of the men seen in the footage.

Below is a screenshot comparison of a video in the misleading post (left) and the photo posted in the Facebook group (right).

Screenshot comparison of a video in the misleading post (left) and the photo posted in the Facebook group (right)

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail