Sri Lankan maid abused by employers in Saudi Arabia (Pictures attached)

Doctors in the Kamburupitiya Hospital yesterday in a surgery yesterday removed 18 nails and four other metallic parts from the body of LG Ariyawathi who was admitted to the hospital on her return from Saudi Arabia.

Operation on Ariyawathi in progress

Ariyawathi complained of severe pains in her hands and forehead . She told the doctors that her Saudi employer hammered nails into her body after heating them.

The doctors of the hospital later found 24 nails in her body after an X-ray and she underwent three hour surgery at the Kamburupitiya Base Hospital yesterday. According to Hospital surgeon Dr Kamal Weeratunga, four nails in her hand cannot be removed. He said removal of those nails would affect her nerves.

He added that those nails are not harmful to her body. Dr Weeeratunga told the Daily News that the surgery is successful and Ariyawathi is recovering.

Ariyawathi, a mother of three left the country on March 25 this year and she wanted to build a new house for her family.

She was scared to complain to the Saudi authorities over the punishment by her employer.

She thought that she would not be able to return to the country if she complained against the Saudi authorities. The Sri Lanka Bureau for Foreign Employment (SLBFE) authorities yesterday said the licence of the foreign employment agency through which she left for Saudi was cancelled.

Some of the nails and other metallic parts removed from her body Picture by Thamasiri Wijesekera Deiyandara Group Corr

According to Hospital surgeon Dr Kamal Weeratunga, four nails in her hand cannot be removed. He said removal of those nails would affect her nerves.

He added that those nails are not harmful to her body. Dr Weeeratunga told the Daily News that the surgery is successful and Ariyawathi is recovering.

Ariyawathi, a mother of three left the country on March 25 this year and she wanted to build a new house for her family.

She was scared to complain to the Saudi authorities over the punishment by her employer.

She thought that she would not be able to return to the country if she complained against the Saudi authorities. The Sri Lanka Bureau for Foreign Employment (SLBFE) authorities yesterday said the licence of the foreign employment agency through which she left for Saudi was cancelled.

The SLBFE is going to ask compensation for Ariyawathi.

K Ruhunuge of the SLBFE yesterday told the Daily News that they have forwarded a detailed report on Ariyawathi and her condition to the Saudi authorities.

He said the Bureau is ready to take her to Saudi Arabia to provide evidence, if a case is brought against her employer.

SLBFE Chief Kingsley Ranawaka has decided to seek the possibility of taking legal action against the Saudi employer who hammered the nails into Ariyawathi's body.

Ranawaka along with senior Bureau officials yesterday handed over a dossier containing documents related to the issue to Additional Solicitor General Palitha Fernando and sought the department's advice to deal with the offenders.

This dossier contains the medical reports, media reports on her and the statements taken from the Medical Officers and the victim by the SLBFE's special investigation unit.

Additional Solicitor General Fernando has accepted the dossier.

Ranawaka expects to deal with Ariyawathi's Saudi employer with the help of the Foreign Ministry and the Sri Lanka embassy in Saudi Arabia after he receives specific advice from the AG's Department.

 

A surgeon holds up one nail out of the 24 which was inhumanely inserted in a housemaid's body by her Saudi employers.
A three hour operation was conducted today to remove the nails inserted in her body. Pics by Krishan Jeevaka Jayaruk