Also killed were 47 patients receiving treatment. Long live Indira Gandhi."Īmong the 21 medical personnel, nurses and hospital staff who were massacred were two nurses, paramedics, a supervisor, three then leading medical specialists, Dr A Sivapathasuntharam, Dr K Parimelalahar and Dr K Ganesharatnan. One man was reciting the Hindu religious work, the Sivapuranam, and was calling out: "Long live Rajiv. All those around and the woman herself were dead. till in the morning I knew the reason for the silence. Please remove it." Unable to bear her moans, I shouted: "Please anybody near her, can't you remove the corpse? Are you deaf?" I heard a child cry: "Amma (mother), tea, tea, tea."Īnother baby screamed. the next day."Īll through the night as I lay awake I heard noises, voices, an occasional spray of shooting above our heads or a grenade thrown. We were like this for almost 18 hours until 11:00 a.m. Most of the time we heard them moving on the floor above, where out quarters were situated. In the night we heard few bursts of fire. We were wondering all the time whether we would be burnt or shot when the bodies of the dead were collected. We lay there without moving a finger pretending to be dead. The Indian Army came firing into the Radiology Block and fired indiscriminately at this whole mass of people huddled together. We realised the danger and lay flat on the floor. The noise of the firing was drawing very close. Some of our colleagues were still in the wards. Ganesharatnam who was with us went out of the room. But we were sure that even if the Indian Army entered, they would check us, and then explanations could be offered. We heard the noise of firing coming closer. The whole place was crammed with people including the patients from the evacuated ward 7 as well. "We were in the radiology block in the tea room at that time. Read one account, as retold in The Broken Palmyrah, below: The troops systematically worked their way around the hospital rounding up staff and civilians before gunning them down most bodies were then burnt by the IPKF. The building had been shelled by artillery before the raid.Įyewitness accounts from the time recalled how Elite Indian Commando troops had led the raid, which had fallen on Deepavali day. A commemorative ceremony was held at Jaffna Teaching Hospital this morning to mark 35 years since the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) massacred dozens of staff and patients at the hospital.Īt least 68 civilians, including 21 medical personnel, were killed by Indian troops as they stormed the hospital building on the 21 and 22 October 1987, throwing grenades and firing indiscriminately at staff and patients.
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