Eechilampatru Hospital

After the attack on the Sri Lankan Army's command-in-chief in Colombo on 25.04.2006, targeted civilians in their attacks through incessant aerial attacks - especially on the villages of Muttur and Sampur - against areas within the LTTE's control. As a result, countless civilians were injured and killed. Any injured civilians who were brought into neighbouring hospitals in Trincomalee were turned back as they had come from LTTE-controlled areas thus restricting them from receiving medical treatment. The civilians were denied access to treatment to prevent statistics of civilian casualties from being revealed.

As a result, the injured civilians were brought into Eechilampatru hospital. Eechilampatru is a small village located North of Vakarai along the border of the Batticaloa district. The hospital served around 70,000 civilians from the adjoining Tamil areas. The Tamils were struggling to receive medical treatment as there were no permanent doctors within the area. Many citizens perished due to a lack of medical assistance. Whilst the regional director of health services in Trincomalee had attempted to arrange a doctor for the hospital, no one had expressed interest to serve at Eechilampatru as it was situated in the no man's zone between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE. This state of affairs persisted for a few days before Dr. Varatharajan became aware of the humanitarian crisis. Subsequently, he volunteered to move to that hospital despite the countless warnings that he had received.

As a makeshift hospital, Eechilampatru was in a very dilapidated condition when he arrived.  The hospital lacked the basic facilities that were required to handle large numbers of patients or emergency units. The hospital further lacked a supply of water and energy. As a result, Dr. Varatharajah undertook several initiatives beyond his normal duties such as, reaching out to Oxfam, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Seva Lanka to receive a steady water supply and was successful.  He also set up emergency units, educated the staff on how to manage war casualties, and arranged medical clinics. These additional efforts required him, as the only doctor, to spend over 16 hours a day to allow the hospital to function sustainably. As the war escalated, he further took the initiative to report the casualties to local and international media as well as the Red Cross, United Nations, and UNICEF whilst simultaneously performing his regular medical duties.  He reported the humanitarian and human rights crisis to the global community whilst directly risking his life despite pressures from the Sri Lankan government to remain silent. He remained as one of the few credible reporters thus easing the work of UNICEF, Red Cross and Oxfam to estimate and send supplies to the controlled area. 

Dr. Varatharajah often slept on the floor corridors in the night due to the heavy shelling.  There were shells exploding all around the hospital, causing widespread fear amongst the patients. As a result, he brought the patients to the corridors, to protect them from the shelling.  In the instances that he received casualties via ambulance, he often had to crawl to and from the ambulance to safely transfer the patients from the ambulance into the hospital, during air strikes. The injured were treated in the corridors - it is noteworthy that surgical procedures were also performed on the floors of the corridors during such aerial attacks.

Organising the provision of services during normal conditions is in itself a difficult task, let alone during times of crisis.

Many family members of deceased casualties were reluctant to receive the bodies of their deceased relatives as they were afraid to go to the cemeteries to perform the rituals under heavy shelling. As a result, Dr. Varathan buried the deceased in mass graves in the cemeteries as it was impossible to dig individual pits for each person during heavy air strikes.

2 ambulances which were stranded within LTTE-controlled areas, later arrived at the Eechilampatru hospital and requested Dr. Varathan's assistance as they feared that the LTTE would kill them. Around 20 Sinhalese and Muslim medical staff members had arrived via the ambulances and were prevented from entering the adjoining army-controlled area as the no man's zone of Eechilampatru which was located in between both areas was completely blocked due to a 2-day battle between the occupational armed forces and the LTTE which prevented travel between the 2 sites. However, being the only doctor present who could speak Sinhalese, Dr. Varathan reassured the medical personnel that the LTTE would never harm them and provided them with protection and support. he further engaged in negotiations with the Sri Lankan Army, ICRC and LTTE to allow the stranded medical personnel to return home safely. Whilst his initiatives had initially failed, permission was granted 4-days later where the road was opened for an hour. Despite being a new inexperienced driver, Dr. Varathan dropped these doctors off himself in an available ambulance amidst constant shelling. They were required to travel 3km in such conditions to reach a military checkpoint. As Dr. Varathan returned back, the ICRC ensured that they would remain at the border until he and another fellow driver had returned back to the hospital.

Soon after, the body of a deceased individual, Ravi, was brought into the hospital. He was single and had worked in a court. His parents were living in Batticaloa. Despite being severely injured whilst he was on duty, the ambulance driver informed Ravi's parents of his demise. However, Ravi's father soon contacted Dr. Varathan and requested him to hand over the body of their son to them. Dr. Varathan subsequently contacted the Sri Lankan army and the ICRC to request them to open the road again but was denied. Whilst Ravi's father managed to arrive at the border, the occupational armed forces denied him from crossing it. Whilst the army had requested Dr. Varathan to the border, it was well known that they would target ambulances with claymore bombs. Whilst ferry services across the Verugal River were plagued with shelling as well, Dr. Varathan was able to negotiate with the ferrymen and arrange a boat that was used for emergencies. Whilst the corpse had not been embalmed for 3 days they managed to transfer it to the other side despite the pungent smell. Regardless, Ravi's father was thankful to Dr. Varathan as his family had closure regarding their son's demise and were provided the opportunity to conduct the funeral rites for their son. . 

As the conflict escalated and the occupational Sri Lankan forces closed in towards Eechilampatru, many citizens escaped to Vakarai which was nearby in the Batticaloa district. Whilst a few remained behind for treatment at the hospital, Dr. Varathan made the decision to move to Vakarai with his remaining patients to tend to the affected civilians there.