Sri Lanka’s Director General of Health Services (DGHS) has suspended a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and a Senior House Officer attached to the Trincomalee District General Hospital over alleged misconduct linked to the death of a newborn during a delivery on April 9, amid a strike launched by the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA).

The suspended doctors were identified as Dr O.V.G.L. Weerasena, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist who also serves as president of the hospital’s GMOA branch, and Dr S.A.N.D. Siyambalapitiya, a Senior House Officer attached to the same hospital.

Mullivaikkal Kanji was distributed by students from Jaffna University this week to mark 17 years since the Tamil genocide. 

Kanji - a porridge of rice, water and salt- was the only food available for Tamils trapped in the No Fire Zones in the final months of the armed conflict. 

A Mullivaikkal kanji distribution event was held on Friday in Madhu, Mannar, as part of the ongoing Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week observed across the Tamil homeland ahead of May 18 commemorations.

The event was organised by members of the public with the support of the Mannar District Ex-Combatants Welfare Association and took place in the Periyapandivirichchan East area under the Madhu Divisional Secretariat division.

A remembrance event marking the fourth day of Tamil genocide remembrance week was held on Friday in Kiran, Batticaloa district, as part of the ongoing commemorations marking the 17th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal genocide.

The event was organised under the arrangements of the Homeland Action Front (Thayaha Seyalani) and formed part of a wider series of remembrance programmes being held across the Tamil homeland ahead of May 18 commemorations.