• A hidden agenda?

• Promises galore

• Election roundup

• Welcome Double Deckers

A hidden agenda?

THE UNP manifesto, titled People's Agenda, presented by Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe has aroused deep concern about the future of the health service provided by the State, which has been one of the major factors that contributed to Sri Lanka's human development.

In his manifesto, the UNP Presidential candidate has proposed a health insurance scheme, which would be the first step in denying the people the boon of the free health service, which would, in turn have a detrimental effect on the health of the people.

In this context, the voter at this crucial moment should think twice as this manifesto has a hidden agenda for the enrichment of the insurance barons.

According to surveys conducted by the World Health Organisation in infant and maternal mortality rates in Sri Lanka are very low when compared to neighbouring countries.

For example the infant mortality rate in Sri Lanka is 16 per 1,000, whereas in India 70 per 1,000 and in Pakistan 84 per 1,000.

The maternal, mortality rate in Sri Lanka is 21 per 100,000 whereas in India 410 per 100,000 and in Pakistan 340 per 100,000. These data speak volumes of the impact of the free health service in Sri Lanka.

UNP Presidential candidate is determined to deny the people of Sri Lanka, the benefit of the free health service by implementing a health insurance scheme to which each individual in a family has to pay a regular premium to an insurance company, a higher premium if he/she has diabetes, still higher for high blood pressure and older the person, the higher the premium.

If Wickremesinghe's proposal is implemented, the first question the hospital authorities would ask is whether you are contributing to the Health Insurance Scheme. If you are not insured you are sent home.

Even in the USA, there are thousands of patients who die for want of medical treatment because they are not insured.

The UNP manifesto does not mention whether a person can receive medical treatment from a Government hospital, without being insured under the proposed scheme.

The first task of parents on the birth of a child is to obtain a health insurance policy.

It was the World Bank, which proposed this health insurance scheme in 2003, but the then Government had to withdraw it in view of the opposition of professionals including doctors and the general public.

In reality the proposed scheme is an indirect way of introducing a fee at Government hospitals, sounding the death knell of the free health service which contributed to human development of the people of Sri Lanka, where the health conditions are far better than that of neighbouring countries.

The hidden agenda is to enhance the business of private insurance companies, which will decide the amount the individual has to pay monthly.

So every rupee you pay will enrich the insurance company owners. In short, if you fall sick, it is the insurance company that will decide whether you will live or die.

JANAKA VITHARANA -
 Malabe.

Promises galore

AT THE time we got our independence from the British rule our country was united and all communities lived together peacefully, as one nation. To my knowledge we had a surplus budget of Rs. 40 million then.

Two measures of rice were given to every citizen at 25 cents per measure, on coupons, on a weekly basis. Ceylon was far ahead of countries like India, Burma, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, economywise. A Sterling Pound then was equivalent to Rs. 13.50 and a US Dollar to Rs. 6.

But since independence what progressive measures have we taken? All other aforesaid countries have been developed to very high standards and could be classed among the best nations in Asia, today.

But we have come down from top to bottom starting from the surplus budget in 1948, now our country has been ruined to such an extent that we owe the World Bank and other leading institutions billions of rupees, without even extending a rail track which was constructed by the colonial regime.

Since independence, before elections, on every election platform we have heard excellent speeches given by very prominent and distinguished orators, but after elected, our politicians forget all their pledges and people were fed up of these false promises and when the next election is held 5 years later they voted for the other party expecting them to perform better. This has been the situation for the past 57 years.

Even now we are forced to accept these manifestos full of promises of which, if a contesting candidate could fulfil at least one tenth of their promises according to their manifestos, Sri Lanka would be a paradise.

Hence our only hope is that whoever comes into power should at least try to fulfil a tenth of their pledges that galore in their manifestos.

HUGH RANASINGHE -
Dehiwala.

Election roundup

WITH only a few days more for the run-up to the Presidential election, I am placing these facts for your readers to consider.

It will be recalled that it was during the UNP regime that its leader JRJ set in motion the present draconian Constitution, and events that followed from it are worth recollecting, especially at a time when the voters are faced with the task of electing a correct leader as the President for the next 6 years.

Many of the UNP leaders who helped President JRJ to draft the Constitution and voted for it in Parliament are no more with us.

But persons including Ranil Wickremesinghe and a few others who were responsible for this Constitutional deadlock are today going around the country as innocent persons and trying to regain power to repeat the dreadful scenario the country faced during the past years. Although past is history, certain events need recalling at a time like this.

We witnessed the 1983 riots and how innocent Tamils were massacred all over the country. Up to this day, not a single person was arrested. This alone is clear indication as to who was behind this debacle.

Having gone through the 1977 Constitution, I was so disgusted that I resigned from the UNP. Soon after the riots of 1983, JRJ went before the BBC and declared that he had arrested 4,000 persons as suspects but all that was suppressed.

Then in the same period, the Jaffna library was destroyed by the very same UNP, who now want to be the saviours of the Tamils.

JRJ prescribed the JVP in order to put the blame on the JVP for the riots, but it was the very same JRJ who had allowed Rohana Wijeweera to contest the Presidential elections earlier.

Then come the Premadasa era, when extra judicial killings became a day-to-day event. JVPers as well as political rivals were routinely killed and eliminated without trace.

Today we are faced with the task of selecting a new President - a President with a vision for the country, who can maintain law and order, who will uphold moral and social values, without fear or favour and who can ensure a free and democratic way of living to each and every citizen of this country, in an undivided Sri Lanka. Sharing of power is simply unacceptable with a hungry tiger on prowl.

Promises are there for the use of politicians but the voter has the last say. Of the 13 candidates in the field, one has to look for honesty, integrity and commitment to the country and its values. Not for sell-out policies.

And Mahinda Rajapakse uniquely and convincingly stands out as the most suitable candidate and I am sure our voters with their maturity and experience will choose him as their next President. It is now a choice between honourable peace and a despicable sell-out to the Tigers.

SYDNEY FERNANDO -
Wennappuwa.

Welcome Double Deckers

I AM glad that Double Decker buses will be back on our roads again after a lapse of so many years. In fact I wrote two letters to the Daily News on 18/2/99 and 14/10/99 suggesting the re-introduction of Double Deckers.

In the fifties only D/D buses were operated by the South Western Bus Company from Mt. Lavinia to Fort and Pettah, and the service was excellent. Buses were cleaned and swept before they left the Depot at 4.30 in the morning and they stuck to a time schedule.

Also, drivers and conductors had to don their uniforms with a brass identification badge, they were also neatly clad and were polite and helpful unlike today's bus crews.

I remember even after Nationalisation of Bus Companies there were D/D buses plying between Panadura and Pettah, Mt. Lavinia and Kadawatha, Ja-Ela and Fort etc. and they cleared the bus queues speedily.

As regards the operation of D/D buses the Transport Minister should employ only experienced and senior medically fit drivers and conductors, and not raw, and unfit 'Speed fiends'.

No overloading should be allowed and drivers should be asked to strictly adhere to speed limits and be careful at bends and roundabouts.

Otherwise the accident rate and road deaths will record a phenomenal increase. Also all drivers and conductors should wear their uniforms (khaki coat etc.) with an identification badge.

If all these necessary safeguards are introduced, then riding the D/Ds will be a pleasure to the much harassed commuters.

Anyway, the Transport Ministry should be congratulated for the bold and wise decision to re-introduce the imposing Red Double Deckers for passenger comfort.

VERNON DAWSON -
Dehiwala.