| News |
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| Breakthrough
in killing? Police said the Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman who was arrested in connection of the killing would remain a key suspect in the case despite his denial of any involvement. Police claimed that the police have found vital evidence linking the Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman with the gang which carried out the killing. The motive for the killing seemed to be personal rivalry and not any political rivalry among the two parties to which the two politicians belong, a senior police official said. Police sources also revealed that the man who shot Mr. Mendis was only a hired gunman.Three police teams are probing the incident and they have identified two underworld gangs and a hard core criminal as those involved in the killing, they said. "All these people are in hiding at the moment and we are sure we will be able to arrest all of them during the next few days ", he said. Meanwhile The Sunday Times last week inadvertently reported that it was the Peliyagoda PS Chairman who had been arrested. SJH
chairman and Board asked to resign "An interim management has been arranged to take care of the functions of the hospital until a new Board is appointed," Minister Dayaratne told The Sunday Times on Friday. Health Ministry Additional Secretary Dr. Nihal Jayatillake would act on behalf of the chairman and the Board of Directors until a new Board and a suitable chairman are appointed. By a telephone
call on July 1 to the Chairman, Dr. H.R. Samarasinghe, the Health
Ministry Secretary had requested that he and the Board should resign.
Dr. Samarasinghe had requested that he be informed accordingly in
writing. When contacted,
Dr. Samarasinghe denied the allegation of mismanagement. He denied the allegation of being asked to step down due to poor administration and stated that an internal faction in the hospital was responsible for the Board having to resign. "For the first time a Board member was appointed as Executive Director. He, along with some trade unions and a few consultants went against me. The Minister asked the entire Board to step down due to these internal conflicts" he said. Earlier allegations were made of an arbitrary increase of fees levied for the various services. For instance, the fee for a patient in the General Ward had been increased from Rs. 200 to Rs. 250. In addition, patients had to pay higher fees as theatre charges, for investigations, etc. However, Dr. Samarasinghe refuted charges of arbitrary increase. "Hospital fees were increased with the knowledge of the Health Minister and was done only once in October 2002, and this had to be done because the Treasury allocation to the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital had been reduced by Rs. 60 million for that year," he said. Regular meetings with consultants, which were held once a month under previous chairmanships to discuss issues pertaining to patient care, were allegedly not held during Dr. Samarasinghe's tenure. But Dr. Samarasinghe stated that he had had regular meetings with the top management of the hospital and the Director of the hospital together with a management committee had, after the very first Board meeting, been empowered to run the hospital's day to day administration. Hospital sources allege that a lack of a strong administrative authority and giving into demands of trade unionists had resulted in the trade unions in the hospital taking the upper hand. This has been an on-going process since 1989. Hospital staffers called for a efficient administrative authority with knowledge of management and administration and said that the doctors weren't always the best managers. |
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