No doctors in Pungkudutheevu Hospital for 17 years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 April 2008, 16:09 GMT]
Pungkudutheevu District Government Hospital, in the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) controlled islets of Jaffna, since its destruction in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 1991 offensive, has been without any permanent medical officers due to the reluctance of Sri Lanka government (GoSL) to rebuild the hospital complex in Pungkudutheevu, Jaffna District Director of Public Health Services (DPHS), Dr. Ketheeswaran said.

Medical officers from neigbhouring Veala’nai area visit Pungkudutheevu Out Patients Dispensaray (OPD) twice a week during daytime, attending to the needs of out patients, the DPHS said.

Expecting mothers, persons suffering from ailments in the nights, and others seriously ill are forced to travel long distances to Jaffna Teaching Hospital at great expenses, residents of Pungkudutheevu said.

The OPD was the only building constructed after the destruction of the hospital complex, and the rest of the hospital buildings have not been built because of the government's intended reluctance to spend money for Pungkudutheevu, the residents accused.

Lack of living quarters for doctors and other essential buildings that are yet to be built or rennovated, is another impediment to doctors agreeing to work there.

Although four newly passing out Sinhalese doctors had been appointed to Kayts, Veala’nai, Kaarainakar and Nedunththeevu areas recently, Pungkudutheevu has been purposely overlooked, they added.

Dr. Ketheeswaran said that the critical situation in Pungkudutheevu is due to disinclination of the government to attend the needs of the region.