Nailed!

By Manjula FERNANDO

For Surgeon Dr. Kamal Weeratunga the operation he was about to perform was an extraordinary challenge. Despite his vast knowledge with complicated and difficult surgeries, the task before him would demand all his medical expertise.

The middle aged woman on the operating bed before him had 23 nails driven into her body. The Surgeon with a team of medical assistants was viewing a collection of X-ray images which showed where the nails were exactly located.

She was a 49-year-old domestic aid who returned from Saudi Arabia after a horrific experience at the hands of her pay master - a rich businessman.

One may argue that Ariyawathie was punished by the 'gods' for betraying her family, for embarking on that risky trip to Saudi Arabia pursuing a dream to build their own small nest, for her destitute family - without the blessings of her kith and kin. But it was too harsh a price to pay and the ordeal was too great to forget.

Her dreams were all shattered. Reality dawned upon her just a week after her arrival in the alien world. The 'warm welcome' evaporated under the scorching desert sun and her load of daily chores was unimaginable. Instead of the anticipated oasis in the desert-land, she found hell on earth. Her screams were lost within the walls of a vast mansion.

According to Ariyawathie, her employer a 60-year-old man aided by his spouse brutally drove nails into her body not just once or twice but 23 times, as her X-rays proved at Kamburupitiya base hospital. That was the punishment she was meted out by her enraged employer for failing to do some household chores. The woman had fetched the nails for her husband's ruthless ritual.

A rich carpet trader in the Middle East, her employer often demanded that she carry heavy carpets to a warehouse in the house. She was tired all the time but failure to comply would unleash his lethal wrath upon her. Even with the excruciating pain caused by the inserted nails, she had to toil. They were merciless.

Ariyawathi after the surgery

The medical team

X-ray image of forearm

Ariyawathie's operation was performed at 8.30 am on Friday (August 27) by Dr. Weeratunga and a team of five doctors including two anesthetists. The Sunday Observer spoke to the Director of Kamburupitiya Base Hospital Dr. Prabath Gajadeera on Friday morning. "You could speak to the Surgeon, Dr. Weeratunga in about two hours," he said. That was the period he presumed the surgery would last.

I waited till 10.30 am. Then another call was placed. I tried to get Dr. Weeratunga on the phone. But the operation was still proceeding.

Within 8.30 and 10.30 the doctors had been able to take only seven nails out of her body. It was such a painstaking process.

We called Dr. Gajadeera once again. "This is going to take more time than we expected.

"It will take several more hours before Dr. Kamal could finish the Operation," he said.

Ariyawathie had nails all over her body, on her sole, ankle, knee joints, hands, etc. Despite her efforts not to report her ordeal she had been in agonizing pain. At the time of admission she was limping since the nails on her sole, ankle and knee joints had been pricking on her flesh.

"We may not remove some nails in her body since removing them will be dangerous."

"If the wounds have healed and there is no infection, we might as well leave them where they are. But our aim is to remove as many as possible and relieve her of the pain. The surgeon will assess the condition and decide which should be removed and which should be untouched," Dr. Gajadeera said while Dr. Kamal and his team were carefully removing nails in the operating theatre.

When finally the operation was over four hours later, the doctors had taken out 13 'two-inch' discolored nails and six pins from her body including a long needle from her forehead. Six more pins in her hands were not removed since the process could damage the nerves and perhaps paralyze her fingers.

The doctors extricate the nails

Ariyawathie is reported to have undergone stipulated training at the Foreign Employment Bureau prior to her departure. But she did not understand Arabic. This led to chaotic misunderstandings over daily chores at the beginning.

Instead of being patient with their new maid, until she found her way around in this alien environment, the employer had treated her with unimaginable cruelty.

Dr. Gajadeera said the woman had been in a state of depression and was delirious at the time of her admission to the hospital on August 23.

She seems to be in a difficulty to remember what had happened.

"One time you would catch her laughing and next moment she would start crying. Before the surgery we gave medications including antibiotics to treat the infections. Her condition gradually improved after a few days."

Subsequently this mother of three grown up children had been able to recall her ordeal more clearly and explain to the doctors what had happened in Saudi Arabia.

"She was emotionally settled after the treatment."

Her greatest fear had been that she would never be able to escape the 'torture chamber' and return home and see her family. When she finally got to know that she was going home she could not believe her eyes. Apparently her employer had bought an air ticket (a sum was handed over to her as the salary and the ticket fare was deducted from that) and she was sent packing. He had wanted to get rid of this 'unusable' liability.

Ariyawathie concealed her pain. She did not complain to anyone, not even to the airport officials at the BIA or even to her family members. She wanted to forget the dreadful memories.

But ultimately the pain in her body got so worse that she was taken to the Kamburupitiya Hospital. There she was compelled to tell her story, the horrific experience at the hands of her brutal pay master in Saudi Arabia.

When we contacted Dr.Gajadeera in the evening (Friday) he said the patient had woken up from her anesthesia and was transferred to a normal ward. She was to be given IV fluid and antibiotic treatment for three days.

"There is no permanent damage to her physical condition but she may have to undergo treatment and counselling for her psychological trauma for some time," he added.

The authorities have a clear cut case in Ariyawathie - a women as hard as nails. A sum of few thousand rupees as compensation may ease her current plight but can money ever heal the deep scars inflicted on her innocent soul ?