Vidataltivu residents lack medical facilities, ambulance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2004, 12:48 GMT]
Vidataltivu, a fishing hamlet located about 30 km off Mannar town in the Liberation Tigers controlled area in the Mannar administrative district is without medical, transport and other essential facilities. The government hospital with its new building constructed by the North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) project funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and handed over to the Department of Health has no permanent medical officer.

"Thrice a week a medical officer posted in the Vellakulam peripheral unit visits Vidataltivu hospital which serves the villages, Vidataltivu, Pallamadu, Pulakadu, Kovitkulam, Puthukulam, Kalliyadi, Kathalapiddy, Aathimoddai, Kaddadivayal, Illupaikadavai, Koorai and Periyamadu which are situated in a radius about 12 km and comprises 17 village level officers' (Grama Sevaka Niladhari) division with a population of seven thousand people.

"People of these villagers are undergoing untold hardships to obtain proper medical facilities," said the Vidataltivu West Fishermen Co-operative Society (VWFCS) in a letter to the Minister of Health Services Sunday.

In 1990s one medical officer and sixteen minor employees worked in the hospital on a permanent basis.

Only 8 minor employees are currently working without a permanent medical officer. Action should be taken to post a permanent medical officer and required number of minor employees and to provide an ambulance permanently to Vidataltivu hospital, VWFCS requested the Health Minister by its letter.