Distraught retired doctor seeks recourse to RTI to know the truth about his doctor son's death

Aretired medical doctor has filed a Right to Information ( RTI) application seeking information from the Health Ministry about an inquiry regarding his son’s death which he believes was caused due to medical negligence and could have been averted if timely action had been taken.

Dr E. Erampoo, a retired government medical practitioner, has decided to take up citizen’s legal arm to access information after several requests to the government about the progress of the inquiry drew no response. In his query, he sought information on the progress of a committee that was appointed to look into the death of his son. If the probe had been concluded, he wants to know the outcome of it.

The retired doctor is of the view that his son, Dr E. Santhirasegaram, a practising medical officer at the Puttalam base hospital, died because of the delay in transferring him to the Colombo National Hospital and the failure to refer him to an interventional specialist team.

Initially the doctor had appealed to the Health Minister urging him to appoint a competent authority for a probe on his son’s death. The doctor said he was informed that a committee was appointed in May 2016, but since them he had been in the dark regarding the progress of the investigation or its outcome. He said the Health Ministry told him that the committee would consist of senior officials including Assistant Secretary (Investigation branch) and Director (Primary Care services), and he would be informed within two weeks of the outcome of the probe.

Dr Erampoo in his appeal said he believed that if an interventional specialist team had examined his son in time and proceeded with the hi-tech brain blood clot bursting treatment, his son could have been saved. He had also written to the President and the Prime Minister, seeking their intervention to probe his son's death, but he was told his requests had been referred to the Health Ministry.