On 15 January, Mr Jayawardena supervised the dispatch of 30 lorryloads of food at Pramanalankulam, the crossing point in Vavuniya between LTTE-controlled and Army-held areas. The minister has pledged that 600 lorryloads of food will be sent every week. After the Health Ministry said that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) refused permission to send adequate medicines to the Vanni, Mr Jayawardena also decreed that such permission was not necessary hereafter.
Kilinochchi District Medical Officer Vigneswaran says that there are no medicines for heart disease, diabetes and children's ailments. The Mallavi hospital in Mullaitivu District, treated 132,800 patients in 2001, over 11,000 for malaria and 2,100 for diarrhoea. One hundred and seventeen people died in the hospital and nearly 16% of the 1,670 children born in the hospital were underweight.
The Vavuniya District secretariat announced that with effect from 15 January, 600 people will be allowed each day, five days a week, into the Vanni from Vavuniya. People arriving from the Vanni into Vavuniya, will be able to use the permit issued at Pramanalankulam to travel, and registration with the security forces would not be necessary.
Vavuniya residents may go to the Vanni, after obtaining a permit from the police by producing the residence permit. A person travelling to the Vanni from a southern area of Sri Lanka must obtain a permit at Vavuniya, by submitting an application form, two copies of his/her photograph, national identity card, the permit issued at Eeratperiyakulam railway station and current police registration. Visitors from abroad must have permits from the MOD. Restrictions imposed by the LTTE on people, particularly youth, from leaving the Vanni, continue to be in force.
According to reports, computers and other educational equipment for Vanni schools, worth Rs 10 million ($104,000), remain in an Army warehouse in Vavuniya, under an order issued by the MOD. Local education officers say repeated appeals to the MOD for the release of the equipment have been turned down.
S Rajaratnam was seriously wounded by a landmine on 6 January at Thiruvayaru in Kilinochchi District. Reports say that 7,000 of the 24,000 residents have returned to Kilinochchi town. It is estimated that there are 300,000 landmines in the area and the LTTE say Tiger landmine clearing units have already removed 80,000 mines.