Three days deadline to take corrective measures

Health sector trade unions yesterday threatened authorities with severe trade union action and gave them a deadline of three days to take corrective measures after police used tear gas to disperse staff protesting in front of the Badulla Teaching hospita, over alleged police inaction to arrest a driver responsible to have injured a staff employee.

A tense situation arose in Badulla on Sunday (12) when police used tear gas to disperse hospital employees staging a protest campaign in front of the Badulla teaching Hospital.

The protest campaign had been sparked off when the police failed to arrest the driver of a vehicle who was responsible for the accident injuring an employee. Unions said they had taken to the roads as the culprit had

The police failed to arrest the vehicle driver who was responsible for the accident of an employee

been earlier released by the police, even though he was now in custody. The Health Sector Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) said the tear gas used by the police had also affected patients in the hospital as canisters had been thrown into wards close to the road. Union President, Saman Rathnapriya accepted that police had a right to use tear gas to disperse a crowd but it was also their responsibility to ensure the safety of by-standers.

Rathnapriya further alleged that a hospital worker who had been arrested at the time had faced severe harassment at the hands of the police.

“We shall give authorities only three days to take corrective measures, to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice or we will take severe trade union action,” he said.