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| Thursday, 20 May 2004 |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments. Revamp General Hospitals Upto the late 70s all sections of patients - poor, middle class and rich were well served in the main Government Hospitals throughout the land although there were a number of private hospitals around. The GH in Colombo, Dehiwala, Ragama in the Western Province were relatively neatly kept, well run and won the respect of the people for this services they rendered. The ECG clinic and hospital at Kynsey Road was the favoured place for heart patients where mortality rate was low due to the equipment and facilities available, dedication of the medical as well as the nursing staff. It was no different in the GHs in the principal towns around the island. With the economic landscape in the country changing from the 80s many people aped themselves to false sense of values merely "to keep up with the Jones" - as it were. It became one-upmanship to enter hi-tec private hospitals - to obtain a service that was no different to that was satisfactorily performed by the State-run hospitals. Some egoistically felt it brought more sophistication than the others - 'the ordinaries' - when you go into private hospitals. Together with this changing trend, many doctors also began ignoring patients in Government Hospitals and were found to be spending more time in private hospitals where their income was substantially more. The capital-intensive private hospital lobby also wasted little time in using their considerable influences to get the Government to down-play the development of Government hospitals and thus ensured the patient traffic to trek their way. Together with insufficient resources in Government coffers, growth in population and a culture in which people - for egoistic reasons - were ready to live beyond their means we find ourselves pushed into a situation where it is almost infra-dig to go into a Government hospital. Like in the case of weddings that were usually held at home are now being held in expensive 5-star hotels which many can hardly afford-middle-class patients too are going into private hospitals which they can ill-afford. Many are the stories where families have got ruined or have run into heavy debt as a result. Here are two examples of men coming from the upper class of Colombo society. One was a senior Services person - who later held an important State Corporation job. He entered private hospitals on four occasions. The bill came to several million rupees which was met by several in the family pooling their resources. The patient continued to be ill and on the last two occasions the family could no longer afford the luxury of private hospitals resulting in the man entering the Merchants Ward of the Colombo GH, where he later died - in his 80s. Similar was the case of a senior civil servant. Later to become a well-known diplomat entering well-known private hospitals on three occasions in his 70s - running bills to large sums. Eventually, the family that could not afford this any longer had to take him to the Colombo GH. The return of CBK's Government with the socially-inclined JVP is quite timely in this regard. The JVP, who make out they are the party "of the poor and the down-trodden" must push for a greater role by the Government hospitals and neutralize the dominant role of the private hospital mafia. This private sector is so juicy now it is attracting even foreign hospitals here. These foreign hospitals start with various innocent prayers like "our charges will be lower than the charges by local private hospitals etc." but as time goes our people get deeply entrenched into their clutches. One of these high-profile hospitals charged a base fee of Rs. 250 from their OPD patients when it opened. Now it is Rs. 800. If you visit them even for a common cold chances are your bill will be around Rs. 2,000-3,000 including cost of medicine. Of course, the buildings are gleaming and have a star-hotel appearance. The car parks, gardening are all good to see and be in. But that is not what patients going to hospitals look for. That is the type of 'service' from which the Government must save our people. The only way out is for the Health Ministry to be given regular and large funds for the upkeep and maintenance of Government hospitals and for a larger infusion of capital by the State into Government hospitals. Donor funds are generally available for health maintenance reasons so long as the Government pushes for this. Today, Government hospitals are run so badly poor patients are asked to buy their medicines from outside, where they cost dearly. There is tremendous corruption in matters concerning surgery. Patients who are seriously ill and needing immediate treatment are turned away and asked to come months later. This situation is a breeding ground for corruption and social dissatisfaction. The question in the lips of everyone is "Why did not successive governments lay down in their order of priority the restoration of our Government hospitals to their earlier efficient and satisfactory service levels?" Here is an area in which the Government more so the JVP can come to the aid of millions of suffering patients. Many of them are going through slow death in silence. They cannot afford the money asked for hospitalization and medicine. They have no affordable place to go for their immediate surgical needs. L. MOSTLEY, Colombo 5 Solidarity with Murali It is satisfying to see that we may have a Prime Minister who is not scared of the "white" raj. I refer to the news that Prime Minister Rajapakse is challenging the ICC on the "doosra" issue involving Murali! If this article is true, we may have the right leadership after several decades of hopelessness! I would also like to see the Prime Minister record his displeasure to his Australian counterpart on the statement that Mr. Howard made regarding Murali. Howard is NOT a sportsman; he merely want to see his Australians win EVERY match in every game played (cricket, rugby, swimming etc.), and to see his people hold every record! He certainly does not want to see others do well in sports! It is as simple as that! A very tangible way to show our displeasure to the Aussies would be to remove the subsidy on imported Australian milk to local dairy farmers, because Australian dairy farmers are already subsidized by the Australian Government. If there is going to be a problem of a milk shortage, it will not be for too long and the Sri Lanka Government can obtain powder milk from the open world market. We, as a nation must show our solidarity with Murali, who many claim is a "national treasure". K. SOYSA, Hikkaduwa I do agree with your editorial of April 20. There are more reasons than one that caused the downfall of the UNF regime in April. It needs no elaboration as many an analyst has expressed his opinion whether right or wrong. When governments come into power they are overwhelmed with euphoria but as time goes by their enthusiasm and shine fade away. They make mistakes of omission and commission with their popularity dwindling. In addition the ruling party is more often than not insulated from ground realities by bureaucrats and advisers who are a political motivated coterie. As leader of the UNP the former PM has to take a major part of the blame. His team instead of helping him added to his agony. One cannot forget the UNF's wayward ministers and MPs at Cabinet meetings and outside. The cacophony of some academics, the garrulity of others, the unbecoming behaviour of some, and the "billingsgate" vocabulary of still others may have contributed enormously to the UNF's downfall. The UNF arrogance filtered down to some officials who were political appointees of the UNF. Mention must be made of the arrogance of former(?) head of our UN mission and his unbecoming behaviour in his reply to the President. To add insult to injury, the UNF has bred a new generation of thugs in the form of the siblings of some ministers. The PM of yore had no control over his men. The UNP/UNF flagship is now having engine trouble and sailing with its flag well below halfmast. It may well have to dock into harbour for a major repair job if it is to stay in contention. The UNP/UNF Cabinet comprised former UNPers and several others 'cannibalised' from the PA government in 2000. Their performance has been all the more disappointing. They are probably licking their wounds and will have to correct themselves if they are to be a vibrant opposition. The UNP must now set its house in order. By the 'manape' system the people have cleared some of the rot but more can be found in their very own backyard. They should co-operate with the majority party in Parliament in nation-building instead of exploring planes of cleavage in the UPFA as they appear to be doing now to bring about the downfall of the government. They appear to be doing this with the tiger backed ITAK, the SLMC, the CWC and the Udarata Tamils who each have their own selfish, separatist agenda. Its time for statesmanship to emerge and one must stress the need for cohabitation for this country to progress. ARAVINDA GAUTAMADASA, Nawala Huxley and super-human races The article 'The eternal struggle of the have nots' (DN May 11) states "Aldous Huxley in his futuristic novels such as Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, Ape & Essence predicts the emergence of a superhuman race". Brave New World (1932) is a novel depicting a total dictatorship. Its people fall into five castes - alpha, beta, gamma, delta and epsilon. Except for the alphas, each cast consists of group of identical individuals who are kept happy in their servitude to the ruling oligarchy by a great many pleasure-giving devices. Ape & Essence (1948) is written in the form of a discarded script for a film. It describes the result of World War III - destruction of the earth and the survivors are degraded human beings led by a caste of eunuch priests whose god is the Devil, Belial. Brave New World Revisited (1959) is a set of twelve essays on human freedom and its enemies. V. BASNAYAKE, Colombo 4 Thank you PM - for waking up RDA officials Many readers have written dozens of letters to the newspapers about the delay in completing the road widening of W. A. Silva Mawatha in Wellawatte. But no action was taken by the RDA. A few days ago the Prime Minister made an on-the-spot inspection of this road. And residents who were unaware of his visit were wondering as to why suddenly bulldozers and excavators had arrived and started work. Only after reading the newspapers did they realise the reason for this sudden spurt of action. Let us hope the PM also visits the Marine Drive from Wellawatte to Colpetty and also see why certain buildings on R.A. de Mel Mawatha such as parts of Muslim Ladies College who were paid millions of rupees as compensation have not been demolished and allowed to block the pavement. Similar instances could also be seen at various points along this road where the owners have collected their compensation, but not demolished their walls. Thank you Prime Minister for visiting W. A. Silva Mawatha both as PM as well as Minister of Highways. It is strange that your predecessor did not see the state of this road even though he visited a temple down the same road in February this year. TILAK FERNANDO, Wellawatte Cause and effect How can the spokesman monk of the JHU be so blind to facts, in rushing to blame the Alliance Government, for the latest killing of Millennium City intelligence personnel? If Buddhists are guided by the cardinal principle of 'cause and effect' governing all human actions, the real cause for this killing could be logically attributed to the damning betrayal of Millennium City intelligence to the enemy by the previous regime. But the monk's unconvincing accusation is as if the Alliance Government has provided the assassin's pistol in this instance to commit this heinous crime! The monk's apparent averseness to see the obvious is evident of his ulterior political intentions and aspirations as much as his Urumaya. W. SAMARANAYAKE, Maharagama |
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