Thursday, March 8, 2012

Nurses demand to know what has become of money: German funds for relocating Galle hospital:

A nurses’ trade union yesterday claimed that a German NGO had gifted Rs. 3,000 million to the Health Ministry to relocate the Mahamodara Teaching Hospital after the Tsunami catastrophe, but that project had not been implemented.

President of the Government Nursing Officers Association Saman Rathnapriya told The Island that what had happened to those funds was anybody’s guess. He alleged that the government  had only laid the foundation stone in a land belonging to the Irrigation Department in Karapitiya in 2009.

Rathnapriya said the matter should be referred to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Contacted for comment, Health Ministry Spokesman W. M. D. Wanninayake said that the HelmutKohl Foundation had started construction work with a local contractor. "They did not donate money to the government," he said, adding that however the government had allocated land for the construction of the hospital.
by Dasun Edirisinghe
IS