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| Thursday, 2 September 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| Cooperation between SAARC countries in medical field important - PM Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said at the 4th SAARC ENT Congress, on August 31 at the Main Hall of the BMICH, that cooperation between SAARC countries in the medical field is important for several reasons. For one thing, the disease pattern of the different SAARC countries is very similar. As such, meetings such as this are relevant, for the sharing of knowledge and experience among medical specialists, who are confronting similar professional challenges across the borders of our different South Asian countries", the Premier said. He said for another, the SAARC countries share a common objective in the field of healthcare services. We need to upgrade the quality of the services by increasing the number of specialists available, and by upgrading the available medical technology, in each chosen field of specialization. At the same time, - and perhaps above all, - we need to make sure that the improved services, are not confined to the big towns, but are spread throughout our countries, to benefit the rural population." "Let us, for example, take the case of modern medical technology. Let us consider its affordability, where developing countries like ours are concerned. Let us see how cooperation among SAARC countries can help us to access these technologies and facilities, and make them available to the majority of our people. "Modern medical technology, - in the ENT field or otherwise - is developed in first world countries: In other words, in the rich countries of the world. These technologies reach our countries usually through our doctors who have either worked or else been trained in those countries. Modern medical technologies are very expensive. So by and large, we find them located in expensive private hospitals. The vast majority of our people cannot afford to access them, and hence are not benefited by them. "But while this is true, another process is also set in motion at ground level, when advanced medical technologies reach countries such as ours: And, it is in sharing the benefits of this other process, that the exchange of experiences among SAARC countries, can be of benefit to us all. Let me explain". The Prime Minister said that it has been found that when expensive medical technologies and facilities from the first world, are first introduced to our countries, they remain exclusive only for a short period. What happens after that? Local doctors and local medical technologists, among others, start to innovate the very same facilities and the very same techniques, at a much lower cost. In some cases, imported techniques are copied, and reproduced at a much lower cost, with the use of local materials and local expertise. They are thereby made available to a much wider public". "At the ground level this is happening, at a greater or lesser extent, in each of our SAARC countries. From a people's perspective, this is a most important field for the exchange of knowledge and experiences. It will be useful if meetings like yours could focus more strongly, in this direction as well." This is not to say that other types of cooperation are not important. We need to cooperate in training. We need to cooperate and improve our different postgraduate institutes of medicine. We need to help each other to increase the number of medical specialists in our countries. We need to share experiences on the practice of medicine among specialists. We need to cooperate to upgrade our hospitals, - especially those in the small towns and the rural countryside. But above all, - as I said before, - we need to cooperate in order to innovate practical ways of making modern medical technologies and facilities available to the vast majority of people, in relatively poor, developing countries such as ours," Prime Minister Rajapakse said. |
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