Scenes of Ranil Wickremasinghe Being Transferred to the ICU? Find out the facts... - Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka English

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The former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department, was later hospitalised, citing several complications. A viral video clip claiming to be scenes of the former President being hospitalised created a lot of stir on social media platforms. Let’s look at the video in detail.

Social Media Posts:

A series of social media posts accompanied by a short video clip indicated that the scenes of panic at a hospital setting were moments when Ranil Wickremasinghe was being taken to the Intensive Care Unit due to food poisoning, as seen below.

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Below is another instance of the same video clip going viral on Facebook.

But do these pictures portray an incident related to the recent hospitalisation of the former president? Let’s look at the facts…

Fact Check:

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department on August 23rd. Due to elevated blood pressure and sugar levels, on medical advice, he was first admitted to the prison hospital and later transferred to Colombo National Hospital for treatment.

However, the circulated video claiming to show Ranil Wickremesinghe being hospitalised does not match the footage shared by mainstream media. Here are scenes of Ranil Wickremesinghe being taken from the prison hospital to Colombo National Hospital.

Viral Video Raises Several Red Flags!

Furthermore, a red flag we noticed in the viral video is that when the person appearing to be unwell is being taken into the hospital premises, there is a significant presence of monks around. People were chanting ‘Sadu..Sadu’, a term mainly associated with Buddhist monks. This raised questions about whether the person hospitalised is indeed a monk.

Also, the scene of the viral video does not match the setting of Colombo General Hospital, which led us to conduct a reverse image search to identify the origins of the clip.

2019 video of Rathana Thero being hospitalised!

The original video, from 2019, shows Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero being admitted to Kandy National Hospital, as seen below.

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On 31^st June 2019, Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero, who ended a fasting protest near Sri Dalada Maligawa and was taken to the Kandy hospital in an ambulance, according to mainstream media reports.

Social media videos about the end of Rathana Thero’s fasting protest and hospital admission were also reported by mainstream media.

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Health Condition

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was admitted to Colombo National Hospital and later transferred to the intensive care unit. A reliable source at the hospital stated that he was moved to intensive care for close monitoring.

Furthermore, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s secretary, Lasantha Gunawardena, confirmed that the hospitalisation was not due to food poisoning.

Due to elevated blood pressure and sugar levels, Ranil Wickremesinghe was initially admitted to the prison hospital and later transferred to the Colombo National Hospital on medical advice. The Director of the National Hospital, Dr. Bellana, had also expressed his views on the matter as seen here.

Join us to learn more about our investigative fact findings.

Also Read: Was Ranil Wickremesinghe granted bail?

Conclusion:

Our investigation shows that the video circulated claiming Ranil Wickremesinghe was hospitalised due to food poisoning in prison is actually a 2019 video of Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero being taken to Kandy Hospital.

Currently, Ranil Wickremesinghe is admitted to Colombo National Hospital’s intensive care unit due to several complications, including elevated blood pressure and sugar levels and is being closely monitored.