Library facilities for doctors serving IDPs

Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has made arrangements to provide library facilities to doctors who are now serving the IDPs. The Ministry took this decision after considering their educational requirements, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said there are around 85 doctors attending on IDPs and most of them are getting ready to sit for their post graduate examinations. Therefore they need to visit Colombo to use libraries. It is very difficult for them to travel to Colombo on a regular basis and there are no library facilities close to their present locations. Read more ...

UN says it would not change its stance on civilian casualty figures in Sri Lanka

The United Nations yesterday said that it would not change its initial assessment of civilian casualties due to the war although the doctors from the war zone admitted that they have misled the international community giving false figures.

"The UN stands by the statements it made with regard to the conflict," UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka Gordon Weiss said.

On Wednesday, five doctors who were within the LTTE held areas up until the conclusion of the conflict, admitted to having exaggerated the number of casualties due to the threat from the Tamil Tigers.

Later, the UN quoted these doctors in their assessments of the death toll. Read more ...

See also: UN will not revise its casualty figures

Problems affecting medics at IDP camps identified

Several shortcomings affecting the medical staff of the welfare camps in Vavuniya, where nearly 300,000 internally displaced persons are housed, were discussed and identified at a high level conference, presided by Minister Nimal Siriapala de Silva at the Health Ministry on Thursday.

Housing facilities were identified as the main among the shortcomings doctors and other allied medical staff faced serving the IDPs. It was revealed that a housing complex was already being built in Chettikulam for the medical staff. 48 doctors and 50 nurses could be accommodated in this complex expected to be completed within the next two weeks. Two similar housing complexes are also under construction closer to the IDP camps and the construction of these two housing complexes are expected to be completed within the next four to five weeks. Read more ...

IAF flies medical team, aid to Sri Lanka

India Friday dispatched a team of 27 doctors and paramedics to the war ravaged northern Sri Lanka, where the large civilian Tamil population is still reeling under the effects of the civil war.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76 transport aircraft took off from New Delhi for Colombo Friday morning with the medical team, including a surgeon and a paediatrician.

“The team is also carrying about 30 tonnes of medicines worth over Rs.3 crore (Rs.30 million) to replenish stores at the field hospital run by the Indian armed forces in a camp for the internally displaced persons (IDPs),” IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Tarun Kumar Singha said. Read more ...

India provides One Billion Indian Rupees relief

India announces a grant of Indian Rs.1 billion for relief and rehabilitation for displaced Tamil civilians in the North, The Hindu reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, India extending an overwhelming humanitarian support to Sri Lanka set up an Indian funded hospital in Pulmudai and sent an additional batch of Indian doctors to Sri Lanka in March this year to provide medical aid to the displaced civilians. Read more ...