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Corruption, negligence accusations against
Negombo base hospital
The Western Province Health Director’s Office has received several complaints against the top administration of the Negombo Base Hospital-a premier health institution regarding the death of six infants and cut injuries to four babies during caesarean section in July and August.
A senior health official with the WP administration said that the hospital management had been accused of negligence and a senior doctor had been accused of promoting private practice at the expense of both the hospital and its patients.
Responding to our queries, the spokesperson said that a copy of the petition against the hospital had also been received by the Presidential Secretariat, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, WP Health Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and several other officials. The official said that they were also inquiring into allegations that due to negligence on the part of the medical staff the lives of mothers who delivered babies at the Ward Number 18 had been at risk.
According to the petition a copy of which was received by The Island, the bladder of a woman admitted to deliver her second baby by caesarean section had had been cut by mistake.
It alleged that many recent mishaps at the hospitals could have been averted had the senior doctor in charge of the surgery been present. Mala Shiromi (28) had consulted the doctor 15 times at a private channelling centre before being admitted to the Ward Number 12 on August 8 although she was scheduled to deliver her second baby on August 17. The petition admitted that the doctor had immediately attended to her and performed caesarean section as she had been one of his patients. But due to negligence on the part of the medical staff her bladder had been cut 6 cm.
The official admitted that the doctor had been accused of being engaged in private practice during working hours.
Shenali Dalpadado, who lost her first baby at the Negombo base hospital in the second week of August, too, has accused the doctor of negligence. In an interview with Meepura, a local paper spearheading a campaign to pressure the government to rectify the shortcomings at the institution, said that her baby could have been saved had she was operated on immediately after being admitted to the Ward Number 12. Unfortunately it wasn’t the case, she has alleged.
The official said that a doctor at the OPD of the Negombo base hospital had been transferred after several complaints by women in government service that the doctor had forced them to remove their under garments on the pretext of checking them for venereal disease. He admitted that the conduct of this doctor had brought shame on the entire institute. Last year’s brutal rape and subsequent killing of a 22-year-old garment factory worker from Moneragala at the Negombo base hospital sent shock waves through the society. She was pushed out of the sixth floor of the hospital by medical intern Indika Sudarshana, a resident of Maradankadawala, Anuradhapura.
