24 August 2023 03:23 pm Views - 2189
Sparking doubts of a powerful force, relevant health authorities have failed to produce a clear-cut statement on the controversial Consultant Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. Ruhul Haq who is embroiled in controversy after being found to have acted against the suspension imposed by SLMC.
Speaking to Daily Mirror, Health Ministry Secretary Janaka Sri Chandragupta said, “The Health Ministry is yet to seek SLMC advice as to what actions can be taken pertaining to the controversial verdicts delivered by Dr. Ruhul Haq in the recent past.”
This raises concerns as to why the Health Ministry was not prompt to take necessary actions against Dr. Ruhul Haq who was performing duties albeit the suspension against him.
Dr. Ruhul Haq has faced criticism for his controversial and contradictory postmortem reports in cases such as Dinesh Schaffter’s, the death of a three-year-old child following kidney surgery at Lady Ridgeway Hospital, the death of a five-year-old girl at a private hospital in Colombo in 2013, and a worker’s death due to suspected food poisoning at the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in 2014.
As a result, the JMO was initially suspended for eight months, starting from December 20, 2022, with the suspension supposed to end on August 20. However, despite the suspension, he has continued to perform significant postmortems over the past six months. When Daily Mirror contacted Dr Ruhul Haq, he refused to comment and told to ask SLMC and Health Ministry.
Nevertheless, he questioned Daily Mirror whether it is a prominent news to be highlighted.
When Daily Mirror responded saying “As we do carry other prominent news stories, we carry this news as well because it has been in the spotlight,” he was kind of losing his temper.