Ex-first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and certain health ministry officials had got involved in the importation of these linear accelerator machines during the previous regime by a private firm named Siyol.

Approval had been granted to buy 15 machines, but only three had been imported, each costing around five million dollars.

They were sent to Maharagama Cancer Hospital, Batticaloa Teaching Hospital and Thelippalai Base Hospital in Jaffna.

Only the one at Maharagama Cancer Hospital is in a functioning state and the other two have developed various technical malfunctions.

Furthermore, these machines should be installed in specially designed, air-conditioned ‘bunker’ rooms with one metre thick walls to prevent seepage of radiation.

No such standards had been met in the the two ‘bunkers’ built at a cost of Rs. 70 million each, at Batticaloa and Thelippalai hospitals.

Galle, Karapitiya and Kandy hospitals are yet to be given these machines, but the ‘bunkers’ already built there too, are in similar conditions.

Due to this situation, cancer patients have to come to Colombo for radiotherapy treatment.

Experts say the one at Maharagama Cancer Hospital is too powerful and is not suitable for a country like Sri Lanka, as radiation emitted could harm healthy body cells too.

No permission obtained

Also, permission has not been obtained from the Atomic Energy Authority to import these machines.

Involved in the importation of these machines were a specialist at Maharagama Cancer Hospital, health ministry project director Wasantha Jayawardena and biomedical engineer S.A.J. Karunatilake.

The FCID has received a complaint against the trio, that they had swindled a massive sum of money through the importation of these machines.

After the revelation, health minister Rajitha Senaratne has taken steps to sack Jayawardena, reports say.