News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 February 1999, 18:04 GMT]
North-East Governor promises regular passenger ship service between Trincomalee and Kankesanthurai; Heavy rains in Vanni affect paddy harvesting and another Aids victim detected in Jaffna.

Governor promises regular passenger ship service

The North East Governor has said that his first priority is to provide regular transport facilities for the people of the Jaffna peninsula.

Addressing a conference of North-East provincial ministry secretaries and heads of departments on Thursday, Major General Asoka Jayawardene said that action was being taken to launch a regular passenger ship service between Trincomalee and Kankesanthurai, shortly.

At present, hundreds of Jaffna bound passengers are stranded in Trincomalee, Colombo and Vavuniya without a passenger ship service.

Governor Asoka Jayawardene further said that the government had agreed to allocate more funds for the development of the province.

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Rain affects refugees under trees

Heavy and Continuos rain has been reported from the Vanni for the past two days.

Sources at the Department of Agriculture said that over 40% of the paddy fields which are ready for harvest have been affected by the present rain.

Irrigation officials said that the reservoirs at Kariyaalai, Naagapaduwaan, Koddiakaddiyakulam, Vannerikulam and Ambalaperumalkulam are spilling over due to the continuous rains. The Pooneryn area in the Kilinochchi district and the Muthayankaddu area in Mullaithivu district are the worse affected areas according to the officials.

Aid workers in the Vanni said that the present rains also has affected the displaced people living along roadsides in makeshift houses.

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Medical staff suspected of carelessness

The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), three medical officers and four nurses have been summoned to appear before the magistrate in Jaffna on February 22, in connection with the death of a female patient in the hospital, on February 13.

Nagarasa Vijayaletchumi (49), a displaced refugee from Allaipitty who had sought refuge in Nallur, was admitted to Jaffna hospital for Asthma treatment.

She died as she was about to leave the hospital having been discharged from the ward.

It was revealed at the inquest that the blow she had received on her head, when she fell from the bed earlier had caused the death.

Sources said that the careless attitude of the medical staff in the ward had lead to the death.

Meanwhile medical sources said that another AIDS patient had been admitted to the Jaffna Teaching hospital.

They said that was the 5th Aids patient found in the area during the course of one year. Three of them have died.

The patient, who is a 45-year-old man, is under medical observation, the sources added.