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Kurunegala doctor arrested; probe on assets
View(s):A Kurunegala Teaching Hospital doctor has been arrested over allegations that he had acquired a large number of assets through suspicious means, Kurunegala Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Wasantha Kithsiri Jayalath said.
The suspect, who police identified as Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi (42), is a resident of Gettuwana, Kurunegala. He is attached to the Kurunegala Hospital’s gynaecology and obstetrics section, it is learnt.
He is a member of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress led by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and had contested the 2015 General Election on the UNP ticket from the Kurunegala District, but failed to get elected.
He was arrested following an investigation into several police complaints that he had acquired a large number of assets in a suspicious manner, the DIG stated. The doctor was handed over to the CID for further investigations last evening.
Meanwhile, the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital is conducting an internal preliminary inquiry to determine whether there has been misconduct by a Medical Officer when performing Caesarian operations.
“We are holding a preliminary investigation, at the conclusion of which a report will be submitted to the Health Ministry,” said the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Director Dr. A.M.S. Weerabandara when contacted by the Sunday Times last afternoon.
Dr. Weerabandara said the police had informed him of the arrest of this Medical Officer and requested the hospital’s support in their investigations on alleged health-related issues linked to this doctor.
The director said that there had also been a complaint from the public about a name-change in a Mother’s Card which is usually filled up when an expectant mother comes for her delivery to the hospital.
This is the card on which the newborn’s birth certificate is based, it is learnt.
Explaining that this complaint came about three weeks ago, he said that the hospital has concluded the preliminary investigation into this complaint and submitted the report to the Health Ministry.
Dr. Weerabandara, however, declined to confirm whether the Medical Officer who is now in police custody was implicated in the name-change complaint.