Medical supply shortage in Sri Lanka causes deaths

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—More than 500 patients have died since January in two areas in northern Sri Lanka ravaged by civil war because of a lack of medical supplies, the top health officials for the regions said. In a letter sent to the Ministry of Health, the two said just 5 percent of the necessary drugs and dressings were received in the last quarter of 2008 and in the first part of this year.

The letter, seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday, was signed by the health officers of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. Kilinochchi was the headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam until it was overrun by government troops in early January.

Mullaitivu is where the last remaining remnants of the rebels are fighting to hold on to a shrinking swath of land—estimated at 13.5 square miles (35 square kilometers)—on the northeast coast.

The letter said more than 500 patients died after arriving at hospitals and that thousands of others could have died before they were brought to hospitals.

"Most of the hospital deaths could have been prevented if basic infrastructure facilities and essential medicines were made available," it said.

The letter said the number of war wounded has increased as the fighting became more intense in recent months.

Sri Lankan officials were not immediately available to comment.

The United Nations says 150,000 to 180,000 civilians, displaced from Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, are trapped in the war zone. The government says the figure is much lower and accuses the rebels of using the civilians as human shields in a desperate bid to avoid defeat as the military closes in on victory in the 25-year civil war. On Tuesday, a further 23 patients out of 108 wounded civilians who were brought to a makeshift hospital in the northeast died on admission, said Kandasamy Tharmakulasingham, an administrative officer at the hospital.