Thursday, 29 May 2003  
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Wake-up call on health hazards

Colombo 7, usually associated with affluence, social prestige and power in Sri Lanka, seems to be also a foremost breeding ground of the dengue menace. This became apparent during an inspection tour conducted by the Municipal health authorities in the city recently. Borella or Colombo 8, another area seen as a stronghold of the rich and the powerful, was also found to be bristling with health hazards on account of widespread insanitary conditions.

These disclosures came in the wake of news of an increasing number of dengue patients in the city. The prevailing bad weather has apparently acted as a catalyst in this disconcerting deterioration of health standards in particularly the city.

While Colombo 7 has always been synonymous with local social prestige and power it would be incorrect on our part to conclude that a close and inevitable nexus, therefore, exists between social power and a social conscience. The latter is usually a product of factors such as civic values, education and a social awareness. Nevertheless, since some of the most literate persons and a considerable number of those dynamically active in public life, reside in this area of Colombo, the public expectation is that Colombo 7 would be a model residential area in the city.

The findings on dengue, however, prove the highly erroneous nature of these assumptions. Apparently, it doesn't necessarily follow that formal education, social status and a strong environmental and health awareness are always causally linked. We are, however, not unaware of the possibility of the local government authorities having faltered in their public duty of keeping particularly the showcase parts of Colombo clean and health hazard free.

In which event one couldn't be too harshly critical of the denizens of Colombo 7. However, even a crumbling of local government services couldn't be considered an extenuating circumstance on account of the duty which is cast on the citizen to monitor her or his environment and to bring to the notice of the authorities any deterioration in health and environment related services.

In view of these considerations, we are left to conclude that a section of the citizenry of whom much is expected in terms of civic awareness and public spiritedness, has been glaringly negligent of its public duties. We hope these disclosures would be a wake-up call to the residents of Colombo 7 and to the general citizenry of the need for a strong social conscience in particularly these crisis-ridden times when charity, caring and sharing are proving increasingly essential values. Never before have environmental considerations proved more vital in the policy-making process.

A duty is cast on all of us to cooperate with the country's health authorities in keeping our residences, our neighbourhoods, our local areas, villages and towns clean and pollution-free. We can start by keeping a closer watch on our home gardens and ridding them of those conditions which would prove ideal breeding grounds of disease and death.

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