What Mrs B did to GMOA
A Sinhala saying goes, ‘Hangi Hangi Munu Bendath Eliye Ona Natanna’
(Even though the mask is tied to hide the face, the dance will be in the open).
The JVP MP, Sunil Handunnetti had issued a dire warning with regard to the SAITM issue.
When the Ragama Medical College was started by a group of doctors in practice, the JVP, an outfit against any form of private enterprise opposed it.
After agitation they sent out death threats to the organisers, some of whom left the country. Some Professors and Lecturers got on to the bandwagon of the protestors.
It was then taken over by the government and a competent authority appointed.
At a later date, the competent authority admitted that it had been started on a sound footing.
In several letters to the press, some retired professors of medicine had advocated the setting up of medical colleges, as according to them on a population basis, the country required about 1,500 more doctors. This cannot be achieved by the State alone, which has been in dire financial straits for a long time.
It may be of interest to note that the Colombo Medical School (College), one of the oldest in the region was started as a private enterprise, before it was affiliated to form the University of Ceylon.
In a recent interview, the Chairman of SAITM, Dr. Neville Fernando had said, inter alia, he had spent Rs. 900 million on the project.
Many of the GMOA members are former students of the professor, using the GMOA as a cat’s paw for personal vendetta. The result is that the people are paying the penalty.
The sabre rattling by the GMOA has gone on for 60 years, and the people are now even threatening the doctors.
Health services are an essential service like the Army, Police etc., and could not go on strike at will. It was only during Ms. Sirima Bandaranaike’s time, that they were put in their place when they threatened to strike. She countered with an order to confiscate all properties of the strikers.
The next day, they trouped in with their tails between their legs. That is the language they understand, and I don’t know why such a course of action cannot be taken now.
Dr. Chandra Weeraratne,
Ratmalana.
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Inhaling toxic fumes from hospital
I live down Model Farm Road, Borella. For the past several years the hospital on this road has been burning hospital waste intermittently, along the wall that borders their property and ours. I have complained by telephone many, many times, to no avail.
Recently, in April 2017, they began burning every single day. When I telephoned them they said it was because the CMC was not picking up their waste.
I filed a complaint with the Director of the Hospital Dr. Gamini Seneviratne and copied it to the Central Environment Authority, the Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment, President Maithripala Sirisena and the Minister of Health & Indigenous Medicine, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. All of them replied with copies of letters sent to the Hospital to stop burning their waste lest they face legal consequences. Apparently, these letters and directions given by the Ministries and the Secretary of the President himself, holds no sway with the Hospital as they continue to burn hospital waste, polluting the neighbourhood and endangering my family.
The latest episode was on July 13. They have been burning waste, despite the directives, almost every day this month, even burning at night and sometimes for 2 to 3 days at a stretch.
I look after my mother who is 89 years and who has had cranial surgery over a year ago. She has difficulty breathing when inhaling this polluted smoke from the hospital premises. So do I, and all the others living in my house.
We have had to call in emergency Doctors at Medi Help several times over this.
One day, the fire was so high it burnt the mango tree, the kithul tree and the kathuru murunga tree on our side of the wall. Doctors and other staff members had to rush in with buckets of water to stop the blaze lest it spread to the houses located on our side of the wall. In the meantime, we are inhaling toxic fumes on a daily basis – emanating from the Hospital.
Is it right for a hospital, of all places, to be causing harm to people instead of what they should be doing, healing people? What message are they sending to the public when they thumb their noses at directives sent by the Ministries and the President himself?
This is shameful and needs to stop immediately.
Rosanna Flamer-Caldera,
Colombo 8.
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Dengue and blood tests
The recent outbreak of dengue across the country to an unprecedented level has prompted the Health Minister to introduce a price tariff for frequently needed blood tests, i.e. FBC and Dengue antigen ( NS -1) tests.
There is little or no resistance from medical laboratories all over the country in complying with the Minister’s request, a timely action in the light of the situation.
Prices of laboratory investigations significantly vary depending on the institute, but the PHSRC some time back, set a tariff for most common laboratory tests. However, the price range for most tests are high, so that the large laboratories adopt a maximum price, irrespective of the PHSRC’s request to adhere to the minimum price.
The most critical factor in pricing any test is the cost of the reagents. Reagent suppliers hardly become the talking point, allowing them to carry out their business unaffected during any crisis, including, the Dengue epidemic. Had the health authorities been able to keep a close tab on the exorbitant prices of reagents it would have been much easier for the medical labs to keep their prices affordable to the general public.
Keerthi Sapukotana,
PRESIDENT
-Independent Medical
Laboratory Association- (IMLA)