A 66-year-old woman who had come to seek treatment from Dr. Ayasmantha Peiris, an ophthalmologist at the Hambantota District Hospital (old), was admitted to the Walasmulla Base Hospital after being hit on the head with a fist and then transferred to the Matara Hospital as she was weak.

The victim of the attack is Gnanawathi Gamage, a mother of eight children. She was admitted to the eye ward on April 7 for laser treatment and had previously paid for a visit to Dr. Peiris at a private medical center and was then advised by him to come to the eye clinic at the Hambantota General Hospital for further treatment.

Gnanawathi Gamage told her son Pradeep Kumara that she shook her head due to the sudden pain during the laser treatment and that the specialist Dr. Ayasmantha Peiris, who was doing the laser treatment, had hit her head several times with his fists, causing her to have a stiff head and neck pain. Kumara works as a health inspector at the National STD and AIDS Control Unit at the District Hospital.

Dr. Peiris had hit the mother of a prominent businessman in Walasmulla, Kumarage, on the head with a rubber hammer. Later, he accompanied a monk to Kumarage’s house and apologized to the mother. Recently, he had also assaulted a mother of a nurse at the same hospital.

Pradeep Kumara told us that Dr. Peiris had previously hit patients, even breaking their teeth, and that the patients who were attacked did not raise their voices against him because of the dignity of the medical profession.

“I was standing at the door after sending my mother to the laser room. My mother went into the room and came out two minutes later, wiping her tears. My mother said she felt faintish. I held my mother and made her sit. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me to take her home quickly. Then I told my father to take my mother home quickly. I took my mother and father to the Tangalle bus from the Hambantota bus stand. I went home after work. At around 10 pm, my father shouted that my mother had to tell me a secret, I went near her and asked what was the matter? she said Dr. Ayasmantha Peiris hit her on the head while she was being held by two nurses in the laser room,”

Pradeep Kumara told us what his mother had told him.

Although it is said that the assaulted Gamage Gnanawathi was transferred from Walasmulla Hospital to Matara Hospital because she was weak, perhaps a doubt remains whether it is due to issuing a forensic medical report against a doctor is questionable.
The basic rights of the assaulted Gnanawathi have been seriously violated by medical professionals while protecting the honor of the medical profession and the honor of Dr. Peiris. She came to the Hambantota District Hospital to get her eyes checked. She had to be hospitalized due to the assault by a doctor who is suspected of suffering from a mental illness without patience and restraint. Relatives suspect that she is being taken revenge by transferring her to hospitals, who has been subjected to mental as well as physical torture.

Gnanawathi was admitted to the Walasmulla Hospital in connection with an assault incident. But now, relatives allege that Matara doctors are turning a blind eye to the issue. Doctors were trained and are paid today by the taxes paid by the public to the government. If action is taken against those who point out a mistake made by a doctor or fight fearlessly against it, it is against humanity. It is the doctors themselves who are using bestial methods to protect the dignity of the medical profession and are destroying the medical profession.

Gnanawathi’s son is a health inspector and lawyer with the Department of Health. If doctors and health workers treat him this way, how do they treat ordinary working-class people? It has come to light.

We called the Hambantota District Hospital and the eye clinic to request Dr. Ayasmantha Peiris’ phone number, but the nurse refused to give. Later, when we called the Secretary of the Hambantota District Hospital, she told us to call the hospital and take it.

Below is the letter Pradeep Kumara wrote to  President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini Amarasooriya, Minister of Health and Mass Media Nalin de Jayatissa, the Human Rights Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Ministry of Health, the Sri Lanka Medical Council, the Director General of Health Services and the United Human Rights Organization regarding the assault on his mother.