The dead and the dying were all around the hospital, their numbers growing day by day. Limbs amputated. Flesh burned. Faces bandaged. Bodies starved and stilled. In the midst of a deepening crisis, three doctors risked their lives to provide medical help to those caught in the last stages of Sri Lanka’s war. Dr. Thurairajah Varatharajah, Dr. Dr. Thangamuthu Sathiyamoorthy, Dr. Veerakaththi Shanmugarajah tended day after day to thousands of patients with everything from chest wounds to lung infections to head injuries. As gun battles and shelling continued, the wounded flooded into the hospital where the doctors struggled to treat them despite the facility’s lack of food, beds, reliable running water, antibiotics and anesthetics.
A shortage of doctors and nurses compounded the situation as some had been killed and others had fled for safety. Most seriously, the hospital was also shelled multiple times with one attack striking a hospital ward filled with wounded civilians. Many would die as a result. While the doctors also worked to save lives, they also communicated the conditions on the ground to the world at a time when the press was barred. In May, the doctors would make their way down to a government-run camp where they would be detained by Sri Lankan authorities. "We are unable to treat people properly because a lot of aides have fled the hospital. We go into bunkers when there is shelling, and try to treat them as much as we can when there is a lull." - Dr. Varatharajah "Today we can hear the gunfire and shelling. Yesterday, another 80 civilian casualties were brought to the hospital. Today at around 5.30am we heard the sound of artillery fire." - Dr. Sathiyamoorthy "We are doing first aid and some surgeries as quickly as we can. The situation is overwhelming; nothing is in our control." - Dr. Shanmugarajah
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