As the fuel crisis is worsening in Sri Lanka, tragedy struck a family after a two-day-old infant died as her father could not find petrol for his tuk-tuk to take her to the hospital in the island nation’s Central Highlands region.
Shanaka Roshan Pathirana, the Diyatalawa hospital’s Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), conducted the infant’s post-mortem and published the heartbreaking account on social media.
The parents in Haldamulla, around 190 kilometers from Colombo, wanted to get their baby to the hospital since she was jaundiced and refused to be breastfed.
Due to the continuous fuel crisis, the baby’s father spent hours looking for gasoline.
Finally, when the baby arrived at a hospital in Haldamulla, doctors had to transfer her to the Diyatalawa hospital’s Emergency Treatment Unit (ETU).
The baby’s health deteriorated as a result of the delay in admitting her, and she died.
“The post-mortem was difficult to do because the baby’s organs were fully developed. The parents’ gloomy memories of not being able to save their baby because they couldn’t locate a liter of gas will haunt them for the rest of their lives “In a social media post, Pathirana accused government leaders of neglecting to help people in the midst of the worst-ever economic crisis.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha has encouraged the country to assist youngsters in getting to and from their GCE Ordinary Level exams, which begin on Monday.
“Please, in the sake of compassion, assist and transport a child who is running late for examinations due to a lack of transportation. Please do not obstruct the path of the pupils and examiners “Minister pleaded his case.
Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a serious power and gasoline shortage and is striving to raise funds to import petroleum and other necessities.
India has aided Sri Lanka on multiple occasions, most recently providing 40,000 metric tons of diesel under a credit line facility on Saturday.
In April, India extended an additional $500 million credit line to import fuel.
So far this year, India has helped its island neighbour with over $3.5 billion in financial support and credit lines in addition to other donations.
(with inputs from IANS)