All these new items purchased in anticipation of nurturing a baby and becoming a mother seem to be remnants of a world that has crashed on Kavindya Madushani on hearing of the death of her first child at the New District General Hospital, Matara 

(Pic by Kithsiri De Mel) 

Kavindya Madushani and her husband Sajith Chathura from Kotawila, Weligama were anticipating the birth of their firstborn with much hopes and dreams. But their world came to a standstill after May 22, when the hospital staff at the New District General Hospital, Matara, popularly known as ‘Labeema’ failed to show them the body of their stillborn child. Contradictions and communication gaps in mentioning what happened to the infant’s body complicated matters to the point that the Health Ministry itself launched an investigation to determine what had actually gone wrong. 

Contradictory statements 

Like on any other day, Madushani had visited her consultant gynaecologist for a regular checkup on May 22. But she had noticed that there were no movements. Once Madushani complained of no movements, the doctor had immediately requested her to get admitted to the New District General Hospital, Matara. 

“The doctor had told my mother that there is a risk to the baby’s life,” said Madushani in an interview with the Daily Mirror. “He said that the baby’s heart had stopped beating. The Hospital confirmed it once I got admitted on the same day. Thereafter the Hospital staff asked me to write a consent form to allow them to remove the dead foetus out of the womb. Two days after I got admitted, the foetus was removed around 2.42am on May 24. I then requested them to keep the body until the father arrived later that morning, but they didn’t allow anyone of us to see the body. But when my husband once again requested to see the body, the hospital overseers had requested him to obtain a stillborn certificate. When he obtained the certificate the staff had requested him to go to the Municipal Council and get it signed by the registrar, allocate a grave to dump the body and make necessary payments and submit the documents,” said Madushani.

On May 25, Madushani was discharged and when they requested for the body the hospital staff had claimed that they don’t have the body of the baby. “They had allegedly discarded the body without informing us so we requested them to bring the body back. When we called the Public Health Inspector (PHI) he said that they cannot retrieve the body as it had already been buried. We continued to pressure them as we wanted to see the body of the child. Then the police arrived and requested us to file a complaint against the two hospital overseers. At that instance one overseer asked us to decline from filing a complaint as the infant’s body is already being brought

back from Colombo. If the PHI said that the body was already buried, then how is it that the same body was being brought back from Colombo,” Chathura questioned. 

“These contradictions in their own responses made things more complicated and suspicious. Around 8.00pm one body arrived with my wife’s name and address on it. But we were suspicious about the body which was already covered in blood and therefore we didn’t want to accept it as the body of our baby. Thereafter we requested to conduct a DNA test and the baby’s body was sealed once again and was put inside the freezer,” he continued. 

The parents had then requested the hospital to conduct a DNA test, but the hospital had asked them to get it done privately. According to the Sri Lankan law, a DNA test would only be conducted following a court order. 

“On May 27, we met with the Hospital’s Acting Deputy Director who was dumbstruck when I asked him a few questions regarding the negligent behaviours by his staff,” Madushani continued. “Initially he asked us to record the entire conversation, but after I started questioning him he was absolutely speechless and accused us for recording the confrontation and discouraged us from releasing it to the media. Once we obtained the court order to conduct a DNA test, the Chief Magistrate took us near the body that was brought back from Colombo. I couldn’t recognize the body because it was already deformed. I placed so much trust in the hospital staff that I didn’t even request for a post-mortem. But after all these events transpired I became more suspicious and demanded that all necessary examinations need to be conducted to even determine the cause of death. Thereafter the Chief Magistrate ordered the police to ensure that both a DNA test and a post-mortem are conducted,” she said. 

The actual date of delivery for this baby had been June 14. Even on May 11 when Madushani attended the maternity clinic in her MOH area, the doctors had said that the baby is alive and doing well. However the doctors claimed that the baby was slightly underweight and had fixed the next channeling date for May 22. Medical reports indicate that the child’s organs and other features were normal and no complications had been indicated on the diagnosis card. Madushani claims that she hadn’t developed any complications even at this point. 

“If I wanted to kill the child I wouldn’t have spent Rs. 5000 for each checkup and consulted a private doctor,” said Madushani who is employed at a nearby garment factory. “I have made many sacrifices to see my child alive and healthy. But all my efforts were wasted. My husband also works at the garment factory and he had to do night shifts. He has to pay the finance for the bike and I reported to work daily to earn my salary. If we don’t report to work properly they would deduct our salaries rather senselessly,” she said. 

At their home, newly bought toys and clothes- including a pink baby carrier bag- newly stitched pink colour baby clothes, wall décor including pictures of babies and the alphabet lay idle. “Perhaps I would give away all these items as they are of no use now,” said Madushani barely managing a smile with tear-filled eyes.