Sri Lanka Campaign announces new Advisory Councillors

29/07/2014

We are pleased to announce a number of changes to our advisory council. Prof Sharry Aiken becomes our first Canadian advisor since Craig Scott left the campaign to devote himself to politics. Nirmanusan Balasundaram, Natalie Samarasinghe, and J. S. Tissainayagam also join our advisory council while Allan Marson joins our board. Aitzaz Ahsan has also left the advisory council to devote himself to Pakistani politics.

From the very early days of the campaign many of the Sri Lanka Campaign’s closest advisors have been of Sri Lankan Tamil, Sinhalese, or Sri Lankan Muslim origin. This includes several of the people whose appointment we announce today, but who have been closely involved in the Campaign’s strategic decision making for many years. However, that involvement was not reflected in the make up of our advisory council since a fear of reprisal meant that many of our closest supporters could not (and many still cannot) make themselves publicly known. For Nirma, Natalie, and Tissa to stand up and be counted in this way is therefore no small feat, and a testament to their courage and commitment.

Here, in their own words, is why they joined the campaign:

"As a Canadian and the parent of two children with mixed Tamil/Jewish heritage, I feel a special responsibility to document the ongoing human rights catastrophe in Sri Lanka and contribute to efforts aimed at accountability and ending impunity." 

Sharry Aiken is an associate professor in the faculty of law at Queen’s University where she teaches international refugee law, international human rights law and other public law courses. A past president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, Prof Aiken currently serves as co-chair of the CCR’s Legal Affairs Committee and vice-chair of the board of directors of the Canadian Centre for International Justice.

"Since ‘Independence’ consecutive governments have targeted the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka to eliminate their identity. In the peak of this process destructive mechanisms had been intensified by the present regime, which has already been accused of mass atrocities including genocide against the Tamil nation. In Sri Lanka, today exists a war by other means rather than a post-conflict situation." 

Nirmanusan Balasundaram is an independent journalist and human rights defender. Growing up in the war torn region of Sri Lanka, Nirmanusan has been witness to the horrendous consequences of war, with these experiences and direct knowledge providing him the ability to accurately express to the world the ground reality.

  "What is – and isn’t – happening in Sri Lanka matters to us all. The bloodshed in 2009 and worrying developments since continue to challenge global rallying cry of ‘never again’. The failure to investigate past and current abuses is preventing the country from moving forward; tempting others to adopt the ruthless ‘Sri Lanka model’; and undermining hard-won global standards. Sri Lanka is a test case for the international community. We failed in 2009. We must not fail again." 

Natalie Samarasinghe is Executive Director of the United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK), a UK-based charity that provides independent analysis on UN issues. She is the first woman to hold this position.

"I am a Tamil from Sri Lanka who is a victim of State terror. For sustainable peace, all peoples in Sri Lanka should have the freedom to exercise their right to self-determination, nationhood and a homeland. I would like to contribute to realising that peace."

J. S. Tissainayagam worked in English-language national newspapers in Sri Lanka for over 20 years. In 2009 he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for writing critically about the Sri Lankan government. Released after 675 days in detention following an international campaign, he now lives in the US.

SRI LANKA: Five-year-old child kidnapped

 

July 31, 2014

On Monday, 28 July 2014, an unidentified group kidnapped five-year-old Damindu Yasen Kumara. They arrived on motorcycles, with their faces covered by helmets and masks. They stabbed his parents, who struggled to protect their child. The kidnapping occurred in Katugampalagama, Meegalewa Police Divison.

Several media channels have broadcasted the heartbreaking voices of his father and mother. Speaking through the media, Damindu’s father, Mahinda Kumara, who is a rice miller, has said that he is willing to give up all his wealth in return for the child. He told the kidnappers to let him know that the child is still alive, and asked them to give the child food and water.

Now, on the third day after the kidnapping, there has been no news about the whereabouts of the child or about the identities of the kidnappers. The police claim to have deployed several teams to search for the child. However, these police teams have made no progress. There have been several child abductions in the recent past; on two occasions, the bodies of the children were found several days after the incident.

( File photograph of Damindu Yasen Kumara.  Photo courtesy -:News First)

This incident exposes the failure of the government to carry out its primary duty, which is to provide protection for its citizens. It is ironic that the government has itself dissolved the most important institution supposed to carry out this duty of protecting citizens, i.e. the Sri Lankan police service.

In a recent speech, at a conference organised by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Mr. Upul Jayasuriya, explained to the audience the manner in which the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has become powerless to lead his own institution. The IGP has to work under the instructions of the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.

A police force has lost the institutional capacity to work within a basic organizational structure in which the principle of command responsibility can be effectively implemented. This has created a dangerous environment for all the people of Sri Lanka. Paramilitary groups, like the STF, or the military cannot replace a functioning policing system. It is the task of the police force to provide protection to citizens by maintaining an environment in which the law is effectively implemented. If the police are institutionally paralyzed, crime is bound to increase; ineffective policing is what helps criminals most to achieve their ends.

The problem of policing in Sri Lanka arises from a fundamental change in the control of the institution following the 1978 Constitution. The government has no plans or intention to change its course and return the powers that have been taken from the police. This option of changing course does not exist as the government is committed to maintaining the power structure created by the 1978 Constitution, which was further strengthened by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The basic idea behind the 1978 Constitution has proven a failure. But, the government does not want to abandon this failed idea.

That it is now possible to kidnap children from the hands of their parents, demonstrates how deep this insecurity has spread across Sri Lanka. Every man, every woman, and every child in the country is facing the consequences of the absence of a protective legal mechanism that can eliminate the possibility of criminals threatening their way of life.

President Mahinda Rajapaksha has proven incapable of understanding that the primary function of a government is to protect the citizens. He seems to think that development, without a basic legal framework for the protection of the people, is the goal. He endlessly talks about development, knowing well that the structure of policing in the country has failed. He is least perturbed by this failure. The building of roads and engagement in similar ventures is propangandised as an indicator of development. The failure of the police to protect the people does not, to him, indicate a failure of development.

The Ministry of Defence is a major agent in causing the failure of policing and, therefore, the failure of any real development. The government’s inability to understand the primary function of governance is a clear indicator that the government does not understand the basic arithmetic of development.

The father of this kidnapped five-year-old child cried out to the nation, and his cry was carried to all homes through the media. It is obvious that the sympathy of every parent and child would be with him and his family. However, the President of the country and the government are unable to respond to this cry that has risen from the depth of suffering of a family that has had their child snatched. This cry is resounds in every corner of the country. However, the government ignores it. Making various boasts about its success, the government has lost the sensitivity to listen to the cry of its own people.

The tragedy of this family, which echoes in the cries of many families, is a stark reminder to the Sri Lankan people: to have a government that bases its strategies on a failed overall idea is the gravest danger to citizens.

External link: Child kidnapped from Galgamuwa remains missing (video)

Sri Lanka warned over mounting foreign debt

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa rubs his eye during a media briefing on the final day of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in this Nov. 2013 file photo. (AP)

Thursday 31 July 2014

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s economy was among the fastest growing in Asia, but it was vulnerable to sudden external shocks due to high levels of foreign commercial borrowings, the IMF said Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund warned that the Indian Ocean island remained vulnerable despite economic gains after ending decades of ethnic war in May 2009.

“Recent improvements in the trade and current account balances notwithstanding, Sri Lanka remains vulnerable to external shocks,” the IMF said after its latest consultations with Sri Lankan authorities.
“The IMF staff urges caution with respect to external borrowing of Sri Lanka through the banking system.”

Sri Lanka’s foreign borrowings were currently $42.4 billion, up from 39.7 billion at the end of last year, the IMF said noting that it was high.

The IMF said there should be a “more ambitious” debt reduction target and also asked Sri Lanka to improve its tax collection.

Unconditional pardon for Rajarata uni. students

July 31, 2014 

Academic activities at the Rajarata University, which was temporarily suspended due to student unrest, would recommence on August 4, Vice Chancellor Prof. Ranjith Wijewardena told Ada Derana.

The suspension and studentship cancellations imposed upon 28 undergraduates will be unconditionally revoked too, according to the university administration.

The Vice Chancellor said that parents of the students who involved in the recent unrest will be summoned to the university. 

“The ultimate decision to reopen all the faculties of the university was taken following a meeting with the deans, held today morning.” said Wijewardena .

Some 1,000 university students last week staged a protest in front of the University Grant Commission (UGC) in Ward Place, demanding the authorities to revoke the decision of the university administrations to suspend the studentship of 28 students.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa also directed the university administration to pardon the students and to recommence the university immediately, during a meeting held in Anuradhapura, last week.

Namal shown the door after trying to flirt with schoolgirls!

 Thursday, 31 July 2014 

Nil Balakaya is taking president’s son, MP Namal Rajapaksa to the schools these days under the ‘nutrition week’ island wide to raise awareness among girls and boys on rugby.

Only boys play rugby, but MP Namal prefers to tell the girls about the game. At his request, he was taken by Nil Balakaya to Vishaka College, Colombo this morning (31). Pleased by the first attempt there, he had then requested Sirimavo Bandaranaike College to give him an opportunity to tell its students about rugby.

The school administration had first said they did not need to play rugby, but ultimately had unwillingly given consent to MP Namal, fearing unnecessary trouble. Going there following the reception he received at Vishaka College, Namal had begun flirting with the girls, forgetting all about rugby. The teacher in charge of discipline had looked on patiently, but in the end, had gone to him and told him kindly to follow the discipline of the school.

Without heeding the teacher’s request, Namal had continued to behave in an unbecoming manner. Losing her temper, the teacher in charge of discipline had gone to him and ordered him to leave the school premises immediately, to the much applause by the girls. Becoming powerless, Namal and his Nil Balakaya beat a hasty retreat from Sirimavo Bandaranaike College.

‘Palamu Peramuna’ to support Sobhitha Thera!

 Thursday, 31 July 2014 

‘Palamu Peramuna’, formed by a group of activists of the JVP in 1989, still politically active, but without any link with the party, will begin its activities island wide from the 01st of next month, a member of the group told ‘Lanka News Web.

Convener of the group is Nandana Gunatilake, who contested the 1994 presidential election on the ticket of the JVP (Jathiya Galawa Genime Peramuna). Its other members include the ex-JVPers former fisheries minister Chandrasiri Wijesinghe, Achala Jagoda and Kelum Amarasinghe.

‘Palamu Peramuna’ has held several rounds of talks with the JVP’s 1971 uprising activists such as Kelly Senanayake and reached basic agreements, said its member. These talks had been coordinated by another activist by the name Saman.

This group has attracted attention in the political arena by demonstrating its organizational strength of the past by deceiving the military and carrying out a poster campaign titled ‘Andurata Erehi Obata’ island wide on a single night.

Alarmed by this poster, president Mahinda Rajapaksa has spoken to State Intelligence Service (SIS) chief C.N. Wagista and inquired from him about it and was told by him that it was the work of minister Basil Rajapaksa. When the president asked him as to how he had reached that conclusion, Wagista has gone onto to say that Nandana and Achala were friends of minister Basil. Anyhow, the president was not satisfied with that answer and ordered that a close tab be kept on the activities of ‘Palamu Peramuna.’

Explaining about their activities, the member also told us that they were yet to decide the candidate they would support at the presidential election. The group has held several rounds of talks with Ranil Wickremesinghe and Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera, he said, adding that they found that the activities and the vision of Sobhitha Thera’s Movement for a Just Society go together their own vision.

The World of Whistleblowing: Needles in Haystacks, Intelligence Gathering, Subjects and Citizens

By Binoy Kampmark-July 30, 2014

I just want my Constitution back. Thomas Drake, former NSA senior executive, July 29, 2014

Both Thomas Drake and Jesselyn Radack are familiar names in the world of whistleblowing.  They are currently visiting Australia, giving talks and presentations on the subject of how estranged subjects of the state can reclaim their citizenry.  In a neat, taut presentation by both speakers at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne on Tuesday, both outlined the seminal points of the whistleblowing mandate and the consequences of not being one. (We know all too well the consequences that face those who do take that pathway of conversion.) 

Drake is one of the few in the growing collective of whistleblowers that has a direct line of inspiration for former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, having himself worked as a senior executive of the National Security Agency.  Radack represented Drake in the legal proceedings against him, and was herself a whistleblower in disclosing FBI misconduct in the interrogation of John Walker Lindh, known more popularly as the “American Taliban”.  Snowden has also retained Radack as one of his legal representatives.

The language of subjects reclaiming citizenry may seem alien to those of the digital age, where information as concept and presence is ubiquitous. Human beings are units of cumulative data, even as they vote, purchase, and fornicate.  Both activists are waging a war against apathy – the disabling apathy that assumes that the totally accessible being, one whose information is readily available for perusal by the powerful, and the secret fraternity, is a worthy idea.

The police state set piece will always be the same in this regard: if you have done nothing contrary to the laws, there will be no retribution or punishment.  This logic, by extension, applies to concealing the abuses of that every state.  Only the state breaks laws, and remedies them. Citizens (now rendered docile subjects in the digital age) are required to heel.

Drake did come across as gloomy, and he has every reason to.  He was hounded, threatened and faced the prospect of having the key thrown away for decades for mishandling documents under the Espionage Act.  In June 2011, the 10 original charges filed against him were dropped, leaving the way for a plea for misusing a computer.  He now works in an Apple store in Maryland, having had his security access revoked, and the circle of friends within the intelligence community withdrawn.  Mixing with Drake is dangerous business if you want to get far on the retirement plan and keep sighing at the picket fence.  This is the “radioactive” dilemma – one which the hardened whistleblower faces.  Expose, and the world withdraws.

Drake demonstrated the all too problematic of paradoxes in modern intelligence gathering: that efficiency does not lie in massive, bulk collection alone. It lies, rather, in the aptitudes of selection, discrimination and proportion.  The move from the analogue world to a digital one has made the gatherers of data lazy, the modern equivalent of gouty, slothful aristocrats.

Both Radack and Drake played much on the metaphor of the haystack and needles.  The haystack is simply been filled with more hay, enlarged by the scope of inquiry being pursued by the likes of NSA and GCHQ. The result is that either the needle vanishes, or everything becomes a needle.  Perspective here is obliterated.

The whistleblower in national security offers the best corrective to the abusive reach of power, providing the means to return citizenry to individuals who are mere subjects of data and collection. The dangers apparent in the very idea of information collection lie in the precise lack of relationship between agency and citizen.  You are not a citizen before the collection demons, but a mere subject of analysis.  There is no contractual relationship, either socially or politically, between the NSA operator and the subject he or she examines.  The electoral link between representative and citizen is thereby circumvented.

The obsession with controlling every facet of information, data collection, and retention, as a means of protecting a state’s security, has become pathological.  This is the message from Drake and Radack.  Such pathologies tend to prove grossly inefficient in the main, and very dangerous when left to unguided frolics.

The distance between the scribbles of the Constitution, and the exercise of rights, is becoming wider in the United States. It is even wider in countries, such as Australia, where the very idea of a bill of rights is treated with apoplectic aversion by those who believe that the wisdom of the common law will prevail.  Currently, the Australian Attorney General, George Brandis, is busying himself with finding new offences in terms of punishing public disclosure, and protecting the domestic and external intelligence services from the reaches of the law. Freedom is fine, as long as it is exercised by the right sort.

While President Harry Truman ushered in the national security state in titanic confrontations, actual and imaginary, with communism, the post 9/11 world ushered in an intelligence hobgoblin beyond the rule of law. Attempts to claw back that relationship between data and the citizen is one of the most important projects of our time.  An intelligence community operating within the tight embrace of the law is not only one that is safer, but one that is invariably more efficient in what it does.  The perception of where the needle lies, and what it is, needs to change.

 Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.  Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

Rising human costs of war persisting centre stage

July 30, 2014, 7:52 pm 

BEIT LAHIA : A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, is pictured at Kamal Edwan hospital in Beit Lahia early on July 30, 2014. Israeli bombardments early on July 30 killed "dozens" of Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 16 at a UN school, medics said, on day 23 of the Israel-Hamas conflict. AFP

Rising Human Costs of War Persisting Centre Stage by Thavam

Russia Has 15,000 Crack Troops on the Ukrainian Border

And Putin’s itching for a fight.

• BY ANDREW S. BOWEN-JULY 30, 2014

As Malaysia Airlines' 298 passengers died over the skies of eastern Ukraine, so did the last trace of hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin would back down from his support of eastern Ukraine's separatist rebels or agree to a negotiated settlement to the seven-month-long conflict. Since the deadly incident, it is no longer in doubt whether or not the future of eastern Ukraine -- or Novorossiya (New Russia), as pan-Slavic nationalists call it -- will be decided by force. The only question remaining is how deadly the fight will be.

Russia Has 15,000 Crack Troops on the Ukrainian Border by Thavam

Voice from Gaza: 'There is no life, no tomorrow'

A Palestinian translator, who is assisting international aid officials and journalists, gives Channel 4 News an account of the effects of Israeli bombardment on daily life.

THURSDAY 31 JULY 2014

There has been bombing all night until the sun rises in the morning. Thanks to the lack of electricity we listen to the radio to find out where the next attacks are. I only get one or two hours of sleep a night now.

At 7am, I go to my job, helping with translation, visiting places that have been under attack or have been attacked. We've met with victims, and have been in touch with relatives, visited lots of damaged buildings and factories. This morning I went to see Gaza's only power station, there was only one tank of petrol, and it was on fire, and smoke everywhere.

'Waiting for good news'

I heard that they won't be able to produce any electricity for one year. I heard that they are going increase the prices - even my hotel bills (I'm in a hotel because it's the only place with electricity) are going to increase by 20 per cent as petrol is hard to come by. Some Gazans have generators. But it is not enough to turn on everything. You still need water pumps to provide water. You need something more advanced to do so.

I saw lots of people in queues at bakeries as there is nothing working at home. People are queuing for one to two hours just to get bread as there is no electricity, water or even gas in many homes. I saw a few families collecting wood for fires. It means we can't go anywhere, we are stuck because there is no electricity, we are just waiting for good news of a ceasefire.

'People are tired'

We want peace, we want a ceasefire. We can't cope like this, we are tired and anxious. There has already been eight years of problems with electricity. Before, we would receive only eight hours of electricity a day. Now we get two hours of electricity in 35 hours. But a ceasefire is now difficult.Israeli demands are far too much and they [Gazans] won't accept it anymore. People are tired.

No one is enjoying Eid this year, no one is at the beach where they would be, especially after theykilled those children. We feel like everyone is against us.

I am just thinking about the future. There's no hope, there's no future. People say "tomorrow will be better" but it won't happen.

Unemployment is high. People have not been receiving salaries for almost seven to eight months. When I visited al-Shifa hospital, there were a lot of nurses and medical staff who had not received salaries for eight months. How are they supposed to afford transportation or even feed their families? We feel like hostages.

'We thought Egypt would help us'

The Muslim and Arab world have turned their back on us. We thought Egypt would help us. But they didn't even let the injured into Egypt. Many have already left for Israel. This is life. There is no tomorrow.

Most of the Palestinians believe in peace, we want to be able to live together in peace. But they won't even give us a chance at attempting peace. I saw mosques damaged. People think it's a war on Islam. They destroyed the whole area. All of the east of Gaza has been under attack.

You don't know where the next bomb is going to be dropped. People ran for shelter at UN buildings where they said is a safe space. But they attacked that too. So people are running to churches for shelter. Or even standing under trees, hanging their washing. They are refugees in their own country.

There is nowhere to go. Egypt is blocked, and we are not going to live like refugees, we would rather die here. If there is a ceasefire, I will leave for better opportunities.

We have not seen any action and we no longer trust the international community. This is what people feel. It's like a genocide.

The identity of the Palestinian translator has been protected for security reasons.

Syrian city of Homs shows signs of life amid moonscape of devastation

Special report: Ian Black finds whispers of normality, stability and a few returning residents in ex-rebel bastion laid siege by Assad forces for two years

Thursday 31 July 2014 16

Adnan Azzam has his work cut out. Every room in his second-floor apartment in the old city of Homs bears the scars of war: there’s a shell hole in the corner of the children’s bedroom and drawers are missing from the glass-fronted cabinets in the ornate salon. They were chopped up for firewood by the rebels who occupied the flat, did their cooking on the stairwell and left scorch marks on the whitewashed wall.
Syrian City of Homs Shows Signs of Life Amid Moonscape of Devastation by Thavam

Gaza live: Israeli airstrike topples mosque minaret 

Thursday 31 Jul 2014

Stuart Webb        ✔ @Worldwidewebb1

Follow

#Gaza ...the minaret collapsed smashing into homes on the other side of the street...

9:18 AM - 31 Jul 2014

 Below are tweets from @paulmasonews @thompwalker and @Worldwidewebb1 in Gaza. Warning: this page includes some images that may be distressing   

July 31

   ::  Israeli aircraft strikes dozens of Gaza sites on Wednesday, including five mosques it said were being used by militants. :: Israel press ahead with its Gaza offensive saying it is days from achieving its core goal of destroying all Islamist guerrilla cross-border attack tunnels.

:: Leaving open the option of widening a ground campaign in the Hamas Islamist-dominated Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said it had called up an additional 16,000 reservists.

:: A military source said they would relieve a similar number of reserve soldiers being stood down. Gaza officials say at least 1,372 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered territory and nearly 7,000 wounded.

:: Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza clashes and more than 400 wounded. Three civilians have been killed by Palestinian shelling in Israel.   

- See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/live-gaza-hopes-ceasefire-raised/1422#sthash.l6K2P89C.dpuf

Investigators again blocked from plane crash site; Ukraine blames rebel mines

By Carol Morello and Michael Birnbaum July 30

KIEV, Ukraine — An international team of investigators abandoned efforts to reach the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine for a fourth day Wednesday because of heavy fighting, and a Ukrainian official said approaches to the area have been mined.
Investigators Again Blocked From Plane Crash Site; Ukraine Blames Rebel Mines by Thavam

Malaysia: Crisis looms for Anwar’s coalition

Internal squabbling could splinter Malaysian opposition, reports Asia Sentinel

By Asia Sentinel Jul 31, 2014

Malaysia’s unwieldy Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition, born in 2008 and led by Anwar Ibrahim, is facing the biggest crisis of its existence and could come apart, costing it the leadership of Selangor, the country’s richest state, and potentially costing Malaysia its only alternative to the scandal-ridden Barisan Nasional led by the United Malays National Organization, whose popularity with voters continues to flag.

The issue is an internecine squabble over who should be the chief minister of Selangor. It could force a snap state election that might hand victory to the Barisan Nasional, the ruling national coalition, according to the head of a Kuala Lumpur-based think tank.

Others are less pessimistic. A Malay businessman said he thought the parties eventually would sort out the issue, and that UMNO is more concerned about a Selangor snap election than the Pakatan coalition because it also fears losing.

Anwar, in an interview with the popular website Malaysian Insider, expressed optimism that the leadership of the three-party coalition would look at larger interests. “We have already endured so long with principles like tolerance,” he said. “I do not see it as a breakup.”

The coalition certainly survived a string of crises to prosper in the 2013 general election despite the disparate nature of the three parties that make it up. But, say several sources in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar is preoccupied over concern that he might be jailed as the result of a guilty verdict rushed through an appellate court in March, reversing a 2012 high court verdict. That case, popularly known as Sodomy II, accused Anwar of having forced sex with a male aide. Anwar spent six years in a Malaysian prison from 1998 to 2004 on similar charges that were widely considered to be trumped up by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and UMNO officials to keep him from heading the opposition.

Continue reading at Asia Sentinel

India's battle against unneeded medical care finds World Bank support

Doctors examine a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of a patient lying on a bed inside a ward at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai July 12, 2012.

BY ADITYA KALRA-Thu Jul 31, 2014

(Reuters) - India needs to curtail excessive medical care that leads to patient overspending as more people get health insurance, the World Bank said on Thursday, adding voice to a growing chorus against overtreatment in the country.

Practices such as "defensive medicine" and aggressive marketing by hospitals, which cost the United States an estimated $250 billion to $300 billion annually, are emerging as a serious problem in India, the Washington-based institution warned.

The comments come as the new government has vowed to crack down on unethical practices that plague India's $74 billion healthcare industry, where doctors say getting kickbacks for referring patients or passing inflated hospital bills to insurers is widespread.

The World Bank warned that as more people are able to afford healthcare and the government ramps up insurance coverage, the risk of excessive care may increase, in notes released from an April meeting with policymakers and insurers.

Awareness of how to get a medical claim remains low in India and out-of-pocket expenses remain high. While more than 630 million people are forecast to have some form of health insurance by next year, more than half the country will remain uninsured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is also working on what may be the world's largest health insurance programme, partially inspired by the "Obamacare" law in the United States.

As more and more patients become insured, the size of their bills may grow, the World Bank said. "Individuals in India with private voluntary health insurance are two to three times more likely to be hospitalised than the national average."

Some doctors in India have already joined the movement. Last month, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences convened a "Society for Less Investigative Medicine", which puts the onus on both doctors and patients to tackle the problem.

The society's founder, Balram Bhargava, said it was not ideal that Indian doctors adopted the so-called American medicine practice of taking a defensive strategy of doing checkups to avoid patient litigation.

UNHEALTHY PRACTICES

Last week, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan called for tougher laws in the health sector after a television news channel reported that some laboratories allegedly offered kickbacks to doctors who referred patients to their diagnostic centres.

Some doctors complain unethical behaviour is more rampant in the vast sector of private health care providers that capitalise on low spending in the public health system. Private health providers have created 80 percent of the new hospital bed capacity in the last decade, according to PwC-NatHealth report.

Malpractice, such as falsifying patients' diagnoses to pass unnecessarily high bills on to insurers, led one worker in private health to quit his job in favour of a low-paying government health service job.

"I quit because there was dirt there," said Sunil, who declined to give his last name or the name of the hospital he left. "Such practices did not suit my conscience."

Arun Gadre, an associate coordinator at the non-profit organisation SATHI, is publishing a book featuring interviews with dozens of doctors in the private sector.

"The medical private sector has stooped to such low levels just to earn money," Gadre, himself a doctor, said.

"One nephrologist working in a corporate hospital was asked by his CEO for an explanation why a person was discharged without kidney biopsy, even though no operation was actually required."

(Editing by Krista Mahr and Robert Birsel)