The Health Ministry has launched an investigation into a complaint made by nurses of the Matara General Hospital that a colleague Nanda Fernando admitted with high fever to the hospital died due to medical negligence. Spokesman for the Health Ministry said yesterday (16) that two officers from the Ministry had been sent to Matara to carry out investigations.

He said that Director Medical Services, Dr. Samarakoon Piyasena and Deputy director General Investigations, A.N. Rahuman had been assigned on the instructions of the Health Secretary.

The nurses staged a one-hour picket on Wednesday afternoon (15) in protest against the absence of a consultant in the ward to which their colleague had been admitted on Sunday (12). Chairman of the Southern Government Nurses’ Union, U. J. Wijekoon held that his colleague’s death could have been prevented if proper care and attention had been given on time. Instead, there was no one responsible in the ward when there should have been a senior medical officer or a consultant to attend to the patient, he said.

The consultant at the ICU was helpless as the initial precautionary measures had not been taken to control the fever. The deceased was suspected to have had dengue as her platelet count was low.