KUALA LUMPUR: For the past six months, Datin Fatimah Wan Chik has been lying motionless on a hospital bed, hovering between life and death. Her husband, Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman, is with her 24 hours a day -- clinging to the hope that she will come out from her coma.

Suhaili, the former MP for Labuan, said he won't take her off the ventilator as long as there is still hope.

Suhaili has taken a private suite at Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre so that he can be with her at all times -- in case she awakes.

"I have been staying in the suite ever since my wife was admitted. My children also stay in when they are here," he told the New Straits Times.

"But I have not seen her since yesterday because I am down with a bad cough and fever. I don't want to spread the virus to her."
Fatimah fell into a coma after cosmetic surgery.

The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) is still investigating the surgery, to determine if the doctor was negligent.

Suhaili said he was in consultation with neurologists in other hospitals if they could assist in her recovery.

Asked if he would transfer her to another hospital, Su-haili said: "I will if a specialist says he can help. All I want is for my wife to come out of the coma. If she could breathe on her own, I would have taken her to China for treatment."

Fatimah, 44, who underwent a tummy tuck, facial black spot removal and surgery for her eyebags at a clinic in Klang on Jan 9, suffered complications following the three procedures.

She is now on life support.

Fatimah, who has diabetes, encountered complications on the night of the surgery and was rushed to the National Heart Institute the following day, before being transferred to Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre.

Suhaili, who started courting Fatimah when she was in Form Three, married her when he was 20 and she 17. They have four children -- three boys and a girl, aged between 18 and 25.

The MMC started an inquiry into the incident on May 23 to determine whether Fatimah's orthopaedic surgeon was guilty of negligence.

Asked why the investigation was taking so long, a spokesman said: "It's a laborious process."

The complainant, he added, also had to produce sufficient evidence so that action could be taken against the doctor.

If there is enough evidence, a charge against the doctor will be framed and a 33-member panel will sit to hear the case. The doctor can be reprimanded, suspended or de-registered if found guilty.