The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court has further remanded until 15 July, Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne, a specialist neurosurgeon at Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, who was arrested and remanded over medical equipment fraud.
Rejecting the neurosurgeon’s bail application, the court further remanded her, while it granted bail to the other two suspects implicated in the case.
Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne’s daughter, who was arrested by the Bribery Commission for having allegedly threatened commission officials, was yesterday remanded until 09 July.
The specialist neurosurgeon is accused of selling equipment valued at Rs. 50,000 to patients for Rs. 175,000 through a private company she is affiliated with.
Alleging this resulted in over Rs. 300 million in losses for patients, the Bribery Commission said the doctor violated public service procurement rules by not purchasing surgical items through official hospital procedures.
The Bribery Commission further revealed that the items were instead sold to approximately 300 patients through her private company.
Investigations conducted by the Bribery Commission had also found that Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne had conducted surgeries on patients who had been declared brain-dead for several days.
The Bribery Commission had informed the court, during a previous session, that one such surgery took place five days after a patient was declared brain-dead, with the heart kept functioning artificially.
The court was further informed that the accused doctor had also performed unnecessary surgery on patients who could have been treated with drugs alone. (Newswire)
