Thwarting unlawful operations

Police raid Nursing Home in Kurunegala:

The nursing home located in the heart of Kurunegala town was a popular destination for pregnant women who were keen to terminate their unwanted pregnancies. The patients came from different parts of the country to get the fetus aborted.

The clinic had a notorious reputation for performing such illegal tasks. Daily there were around 30 women who queued up at the nursing home, according to Kurunegala police who raided the establishment a fortnight ago.

The reason why several women had flocked there was because it was adequately equipped with modern equipment to perform such tasks. The nursing home had a reputation for being a safe place for such unlawful acts.

The clients too felt safe in the hands of a qualified doctor with expertise acquired for such tasks over the years. According to police women in the age groups of 20 -35, from many parts of the country called over at the nursing home to get their fetus aborted.

In most instances the victims were women who couldn’t face the stigma of society of bearing children born out of wedlock. It was they who sought the service of the veteran doctor.

The other category of women who came there were in the age groups of 40 and above with grown up children. They too felt ashamed of bearing children in their advance ages and opted for abortions. Police say circumstances force women to undergo such illegal acts to save face.

DIG North Western Range, Jayatha Jayasinghe was alarmed when he learnt of the abortion clinic functioning in the heart of Kurunegala town. An informant who rang him up said that he was disgusted and fed up about the way police acted in the past.

He said although the clinic was raided several times in the past no action was taken to curb its illegal activities. The informant alleged that the police had turned a blind eye because they were bribed by the suspect doctor.

Meanwhile the DIG had also received several petitions regarding the nursing home and illegal abortions carried out by two doctors. As many as 30 abortions for a day were being performed at the nursing home according to patients interviewed by the police. The DIG instructed a team of policemen headed by ASP Senaratne at Kurunegala police to mount a surveillance operation to find out what went there behind close doors.

All he needed was proof before he ordered a crack down on the premises. Meanwhile several plain clothes men under the supervision of ASP Senaratne, kept a close watch on the nursing home located in the heart of Kurunegala town.

The police surveillance team was led by Chief Inspector Tissa Withanage. To their amazement they noticed both young couples and middle aged women patronised the clinic.

After surveying the nursing home for two weeks and gathering valuable evidence, police decided to act fast. They presented the evidence in court and obtained a search warrant to raid the nursing home.

A fortnight ago the police raided the nursing home and arrested its chief doctor performing an illegal abortion on a woman.

Subsequently his assistant doctor too was taken into custody in connection with similar offenses. Both men were later produced in courts and were remanded till inquires were completed.

According to Police the main suspect was a qualified doctor who was attached to a government hospital in the past. But he was stuck off the roll by the Ceylon Medical Council, for a similar offense, and had lost his job.

Ever since then he had performed illegal operations at Kurunegala town and elsewhere which made him a wealthy man. So much so that he travels to work in a luxury limousine which he owns, police said.

Meanwhile the other suspect was a part qualified doctor from a foreign university who worked with the main suspect. Meanwhile the main suspect had attempted to bribe a senior police officer by offering him a sum of Rs. 500,000 if was set free.

But his attempt to bribe had resulted in a complete failure, sources told the Sunday Observer. Meanwhile the police found advanced apparatus powered by vacuum to abort fetuses causing less pain to the victim.

Some women had even told police that the doctor had sexual intercourse with them before an abortion was being performed. However they had not objected as they were in a helpless situation.

Statistics show that more than 658 illegal abortions were performed in Sri Lanka daily.

There were more than 240, 000 abortions done annually in contrast to 360,000 births a year. The majority of women who terminated their pregnancies came from semi urban and rural areas. Although abortions were illegal in the country it could be legally performed on medical grounds if the pregnancy posed a threat to the life of the mother within the first 18 weeks of the pregnancy.

Last year a native physician from Panadura went into hiding following an illegal abortion he performed on a woman who died after being admitted to Panadura hospital with excessive hemorrhage.

According to hospital sources the deceased was a married woman with three married daughters. The woman was embarrassed after being pregnant and had opted for an abortion with the consent of her husband.

After consulting the native physician at Hirana Panadura the woman had undergone an abortion after paying the native doctor Rs. 30,000 for the job. However due to hemorrhage she was admitted to the Kethumathie woman’s hospital and was transferred to the Panadura Government hospital where she died.