The Foreign Employment Promotion Ministry has initiated inquiries into complaints that organs of dead Sri Lankan expatriate workers in some Middle Eastern countries had been removed, Minister Dilan Perera said yesterday.

The Minister made these remarks in response to a question by UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake, asking whether the Ministry had taken any steps regarding the complaint that the internal organs including bowels   of a Sri Lankan maid had been removed after her death on November 22, 2013 in Kuwait.

The Minister replied that a post-mortem was requested whenever relatives raised suspicions about deaths of their loved ones while working on foreign soil.

“When a natural death occurs with regard to an expatriate worker, we ask for a post-mortem. That is only when relatives raise suspicions. Body parts go missing after post-mortems. After dissection of the body for post-mortem, certain body parts are not included when reassembling,” he said.

However, Mr. Perera said, “There are complaints about the removal of organs from brain-dead persons.  It is said to be done for money with the connivance of relatives. We have started inquiries – yet, these allegations have not been proven.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Ramanayake disputed the standard of post-mortems being conducted in Saudi Arabia.  (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)

Courtesy: dailymirror.lk