BRITISH INMATE DIED OF HEART ATTACK – PRISONS DEPT.

February 25, 2014

The cause of death of a British national at the Magazine Prison in Colombo has been confirmed as a heart attack, the Department of Prisons said today.  

Viswalingam Gopidas, who was arrested and imprisoned on charges of aiding the LTTE organization, had suddenly passed away due to an ailment yesterday (24) morning.

Commissioner General of Prisons, Chandraratne Pallegama stated that the inmate had fallen ill at around 7.30am yesterday and died shortly after being admitted to the prison hospital. 

 The 41-year-old citizen of Britain was serving a sentence until 2015, however was scheduled for an early release under prisoner exchange, the prisons department said. 

Northern Province health sector underdeveloped – Dr. Sathyalingam

By Mirudhula Thambiah- February 25, 2014
Health Minister of the Northern Province, Dr. P. Sathiyalingam, said the health sector in the Province is facing many setbacks, and had been neglected even though it was nearly five years since the end of the war.
 
He went on to say that he had met with the Minister of Health, Maithripala Sirisena, recently, and in the course of the discussions, had sought his support to uplift the health sector in the North. Dr. Sathiyalingam added that the sector lacks both manpower as well as facilities in the Province.
 
The Health Minister of the Northern Province also said   he had brought the situation in this regard, to the notice of the officials of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
 
Responding to the concerns expressed by Dr. Sathiyalingam, Minister Sirisena had reportedly said that there was a shortage of doctors in all the districts, and he was taking steps to fill the vacancies.   
 
“Northern Hospitals are continuing to adopt the old methods of entering pertinent details as well as maintaining the database in books. However, such information is not being fed into a computer, and in an endeavour to revamp the administration and develop the health sector, we have decided to computerize all data,” he said, and added that they had sought financial assistance from UNICEF to computerize the administration of the Northern Health Ministry.
 
Head of the Health Unit, UNICEF, Dr. Esatulla Majeed, had pledged the necessary assistance to develop the health sector in the Northern Province, Dr. Sathyalingam said.