NUTA questions over US docs for medical care in North

21 August 2016 10:36 pm

In the backdrop of American military doctors giving medical care in the North, the National University Teachers’ Association (NUTA) queried today whether these foreign medical practitioners obtained ‘ethical clearance permission’ from the authorised bodies in Sri Lanka to collect blood samples of Sri Lankan citizens.

NUTA President Dr. Channa Jayasumana told Daily Mirror his Association learnt of measures by these American doctors to collect blood samples of some ex LTTE combatants to determine whether they had been injected with poisonous substance during rehabilitation process.

Dr. Jayasumana, a senior lecturer of Rajarata Medical Faculty, said blood samples of individuals should be collected, for other than treatment purposes, only with ethical clearance permission.

“I direct this question at Sri Lanka Medical Council and the Health Ministry to let the country know whether it was done,” he said.

He said nobody knew whether blood samples of Sri Lankan citizens would be collected in this manner for genetic studies or anything. (Kelum Bandara)