Villagers in Trinco suffer without medical facilities-TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2003, 17:07 GMT]
The remote villages in the Trincomalee district have not been provided with proper medical facilities and people undergo untold hardships in getting prompt medical treatment, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham in a letter to the Minister of Health, Nutrition and Welfare Mr.P.Dayaratne, sources in Trinco said.

Recently a seriously ill pregnant woman from Pattithidal village in Muttur was brought to Trincomalee general hospital in an ambulance sent from Trincomalee itself as the ambulances in Killiveddy and Serunuwara hospital in Muttur division had gone out of order, sources said.

No action has been taken by the authorities concerned to repair the vehicles, sources said

Mr.Thurairetasingham has asked the Health Minister to provide two ambulances to each hospital in Muttur division, Killiveddy and Serunuwara to transport patients to Trincomalee general hospital which is more than one hundred miles away from Muttur, sources said.

Costly drugs in Killiveddy hospital are getting damaged daily because of irregular electricity supply, as these drugs have to be kept in refrigerators. Mr.Thurairetasingham told the Minister to provide a portable generator to the Killiveddy hospital to be used in emergency situations when the electricity supply by the Ceylon Electricity Board is disrupted, sources said.

Killiveddy hospital serves four villages in the area. However a mobile medical clinic is conducted in the other three villages twice a week by the Department of Health.

Mr.Thurairatnesingham has pointed out to the Health Minister that conducting mobile service twice a week would serve no useful purpose. The only way to alleviate the sufferings of the people in these villages is to reopen the Eachchilampaththu government hospital, which is close to these villages.

"Furthermore the Eachchilampathu division has about thirty villages with a population of more than twenty thousand. The Eachchilampathu hospital is the only medical institution in the division. The newly renovated Eachchilampathu hospital has been closed for want of a medical officer for more than a decade. The people of Eachchilampathu division are now compelled to travel several miles to go to Muttur or Serunuwara hospital for medical needs," said Mr.Thurairatnesingham in the letter to the Health Minister, sources said.

The TNA parliamentarian appealed to the Health Minister to take immediate steps to reopen the Eachchilampathu hospital by posting a medical officer and to provide adequate number of ambulances to hospitals in remote villages such as Killiveddy, Serunuwara and Pulmoddai in the north of Trincomalee district, sources said.

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