COLOMBO, Aug 28, (AFP): A Sri Lankan maid recovering from surgery to remove 19 nails from her body told doctors her Saudi employer heated the nails and hammered them into her body, an official said Saturday.

Surgeons at Sri Lanka’s southern Kamburupitiya hospital removed 19 out of a total of 24 nails — some two-inches (five-centimetres) long — and a needle that were in her arms, legs and forehead during a three-hour operation.

Hospital director Prabath Gajadeera said L.T. Ariyawathi, 49, told them her Saudi employer inflicted the injuries on her as a punishment because she found it difficult to communicate with those in the household. “She said her employer heated the nails and then hammered them into her body,” Gajadeera told AFP. “The nails were in her arms, legs and forehead.”

He said the woman could not have driven the nails herself.

“It is clear someone else had to drive in the nails,” he said. “We will in any case refer her to a psychiatrist for analysis before discharging her from hospital.”

She was admitted to hospital last weekend after returning home complaining she was in great pain and unable to walk.

Surgeons at the hospital removed 13 big nails, each two-inches long, and six smaller ones, Gajadeera said.

He said the remaining nails were not immediately removed because the procedure might have resulted in serious nerve damage.
Officials said the government would pay her more than 3,000 dollars from a fund to help Sri Lankanmigrant workers who are abused.

“A cheque for 100,000 rupees (900 dollars) was given to her at the hospital,” a spokesman for the foreign employment bureau said, with the balance to be paid soon after she leaves hospital.
The welfare fund also plans to build a home for Ariyawathi, a mother of three, who travelled to Saudi
Arabia to earn money to upgrade her mud hut.

Sri Lankan police have begun an investigation.

Officials said Sri Lanka was expected to formally take up the case of the housemaid with Saudi authorities shortly.

Sri Lankan embassy labour attache Nimal Ranawaka said in Riyadh the mission had contacted Saudi authorities over the case but had not yet made a formal complaint because they were waiting for medical reports.

“At the moment, the matter is under investigation,” he said.

Some 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad of whom 70 percent are women. Most work as housemaids in the Middle East while smaller numbers work in Singapore and Hong Kong, seeking higher salaries than they would get at home.