A special discussion chaired by Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms was held in the morning today (04.08.2022) at the Ministry of Justice focussing the attention on the legal measures to be proceeded in respect of the unidentified dead bodies now remained in the Government Hospitals throughout the country.

At the discussion, emphasis was given to the issues that have arisen in consequence of difficulty of removal of dead bodies and to how should it be legally acted to remedy the existing situation. Expressing views, health officials including Director General of Health Services insisted the existing limited space available in mortuaries in the Government Hospitals and the series of difficulties being experienced by the hospital authorities in finding spaces to kept the rest of the dead bodies as the unidentified bodies are now kept in the available limited spaces. Responding to these views, the Minister of Justice informed the officials of the Ministry of the actions to be expeditiously taken by them to amend the Criminal Procedure Code and to introduce incidental guidelines in concurrence with Ministry of Health and the Department of Police to address these issues.

This discussion was attended by Mrs. Wasantha Perera, Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, Director General of Health Services, Dr. W.K. Wickramasinghe, Deputy Director, National Hospital Colombo and Mr. Darshana Gallage, Senior Superintendent of Police and Director – Legal, Department of Police, Sri Lanka.