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Two senior police officers left for Italy on Friday to commence investigation on illegal immigrants following the government's decision to crack down on illegal migrants. The two police
officers SSP Lucky Peries and Chief Inspector CID Mevan de Silva
are to commence investigations immediately. The Italian
government has given 1000 placements to be filled by Sri Lankans
by the end of this year, Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe announced
recently. More placements will be given next year as well, the minister
said. However since
the offer was made two weeks ago, a shipload of 152 Sri Lankans
who were on the way to Italy had been detected in Cairo and the
Italian government has asked the government to take necessary steps
to stop the flow of these immigrants. There are fears that the job
offers could be withdrawn if there is no crackdown on the flow of
illegal immigrants. On Thursday,
Interior Minister John Amaratunga summoned the IGP, all DIGs and
OICs policing the western coastal belt and asked them to take whatever
steps were necessary to stop the illegal flow of immigrants. "You will
be handsomely rewarded for your detections. Please act without being
afraid of any political pressures," the minister told the policemen
who attended the meeting at the Parliamentary complex at Sri Jayaward
hanapura, Kotte. The conference was also attended by the Navy commander, the Italian Ambassador in Colombo Salvator Zotta and the Labour Minister. Ambassador Zotta said that under new legislation passed in Italy, illegal immigrants would be deported immediately and not allowed to stay on till their cases are heard. "There
is peace in the country so they cannot ask for political asylum.
That trick won't work anymore. We understand you have financial
problems and we are trying to help out by giving jobs legally to
Sri Lankans," he said. He also said large sums of money had to be utilized to deport illegal immigrants as Italian law required that each immigrant be accompanied by an Italian policeman back to his home country. Randy
bogus doc sacked The staffers
who had complained to the hospital management had their employment
terminated with no proper reason given, while the quack was interdicted
after the authorities had established that his credentials were
false. A lady doctor who had been harassed told The Sunday Times that the bogus doctor indulged in vulgar talk and made suggestive gestures in an attempt to lure females. "Though
I brought this to the notice of my seniors repeatedly, it fell on
dead ears and no action was taken. Instead, my work was terminated
on the grounds that I had not been polite to my superiors"
she said. She alleged
that a patient too had complained of being subject to unnecessary
examinations putting her in an embarrassing position. A young nurse
was among those allegedly harassed. The nurse who had been on a
night shift with a colleague at the neonatal intensive care unit
of the hospital was reportedly molested by the alleged doctor who
had chased both the nurses all the way to the women's toilet. The
nurse later made a written complaint to the management following
which an inquiry was called for. The alleged
doctor had practiced at the hospital under the registration of another
doctor from whom he had obtained a letter of recommendation on the
pretext that he was leaving for Australia. The doctor had given
the bogus doctor a copy of his registration and ID, as it would
be required by medical institutions abroad to recognise/accept his
letter of recommendation. The alleged impostor had practiced at
the private hospital in Colombo under the name and registration
of this doctor. This doctor
had been in the dark until last month when he received a letter
from the private hospital stating that he had been interdicted because
of 'serious misconduct'. The doctor had then complained to the police.
A senior official at the private hospital said that on investigation
of the imposter's educational background, it had been revealed that
he had forged documents and used them to even withdraw money from
banks. "The hospital
authorities were deceived, because he produced the registration
number of a qualified doctor who has Medical Council registration.
He worked for us only for a few months and was interdicted the moment
we found out that he was not a qualified doctor from Russia,"
he said. The quack had pursued a medical degree course in Russia,
but had discontinued it after a short period. Meanwhile the
lady doctor who had been harassed had complained to the Medical
Council and hopes to make a complaint to the Police and the Children
and Women's Desk. The Sri Lanka
Medical Council when contacted told The Sunday Times that it was
unable to take any action against this person because he was not
a registered doctor. "Unless the alleged person is registered as a doctor with the SLMC, we can take no action. It becomes a police case," Medical Council Registrar Prof. S. Panditharatne said. Launch
of mental health book The book provides a comprehensive account of the proceedings, as well as the issues, theories, and debates that surfaced during the International Conference on Mental Health and Psychiatry in Colombo in April which was held in connection with the 20th anniversary celebrations of Sahanaya. |
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