Hospital worker nabbed for alleged theft

Nadira Gunatilleke

A leading trade union activist attached to a popular trade union responsible for launching constant strikes in the health sector had allegedly stole a rice bag from Ragama Teaching Hospital kitchen and was caught by the Hospital Director, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said that the worker attached to Ragama Teaching Hospital had stolen the rice bag with 40 kg of rice at midnight.

After the Hospital Director called 119, the worker and two of his `assistants' with a three wheeler were taken into custody by the police.

The worker who entered the kitchen and stole the rice bag had put it into a three wheeler he used to hire and come to the hospital premises around 12.00 mn.

While the worker was looking for more goods to steel, another worker had spotted him and called the Hospital Director. When the director questioned him, the worker had told him that he was there to check his duties to be carried in the morning. His shift was scheduled to start in the following morning, he said.

When the Hospital Director checked the three wheeler and questioned the worker, he had failed to explain why he was in the hospital premises in a three wheeler at 12.00 mn and how the rice came into the three wheeler.