Ruthless Sri Lankan Army blocks oxygen cylinders urgently needed by hospitals in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 15:37 GMT]Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniyaa has held back for weeks the vehicle bringing 52 oxygen cylinders from Colombo to Ki'linochchi public hospital urgently needed to save the lives of the Internally Displaced Persons, increasingly subjected to indiscriminate shelling, air attacks and road accidents. Although two of the three lorries with medical supplies that were waiting for weeks were allowed to reach the hospital on Monday, the lorry with oxygen cylinders was not allowed to cross the Oamanthai entry point by the SLA. There is acute need for oxygen cylinders at Ki'linochchi hospital, according to Dr. P. Brighton, the assisting Deputy Provincial Director of Health (DPDH). The stock of oxygen cylinders in the hospital is completely exhausted as the need for oxygen is very much acute in Vanni due to the victims continually being injured in the air strikes, artillery barrages, he added.Besides, the congestion of traffic due to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) fleeing in haste in large numbers along the trunk roads in Vaani has escalated the number of road accidents where many civilians are injured.S. Osman Charles, the assistant DPDH of Mullaiththeevu district said the situation was alarming also at the Mullaiththeevu hospital where many patients were warded. SLA at Oamanthai entry point to Vanni did not permit the vehicle carrying 52 oxygen cylinders to go into Vanni. Only the other two vehicles transporting medicines reached Vanni, he added.