Ratnapura hospital deaths report to AG soon

by Don Asoka Wijewardena

The Health Ministry will submit a comprehensive report to the Attorney General on the investigations by its special unit on the six deaths reported in the Ratnapura Hospital during the recent strike launched by nurses, Health Ministry sources said.

The Ministry is of the view that both nurses and doctors had shirked responsibility during the 36 hour strike launched on May 7.

An elderly diabetic woman with a wound had not been attended for five hours since her admission on May 7 and she died without treatment. Had she been transferred to the National Hospital her life could have been saved, specialists said.

Nearly 500 nurses struck work on May 7 over the transfer of a male nurse to Kegalle Hospital on disciplinary grounds. The striking nurses had taken away keys of cupboards where essential drugs were stored denying doctors access to the drugs.

Although the All Ceylon Health Service Union said that it would deploy nursing personnel to attend to emergency cases, it had failed to do so, investigations revealed.