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by Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Facilitating the best health service

 


Waiting impatiently for their turn.

First we had ‘peace journalists’. They were created by certain ‘peace producing’ European forces and employed here in Sri Lanka to promote the LTTE which has been named by the FBI as the most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world. They are still active like secret agents.

Then came ‘NGO journalists’ who have been continuously sponsored by INGOs and NGOs to do the same while weakening democratically appointed Sri Lankan Governments using ‘human rights’ issues. For example, some of them work in the fields of environment protection and welfare of children but only collect the list of Sri Lankan journalists who were ‘killed’ in 2007. Do you know the latest breed of journalists? They are pharmaceutical journalists.

It is very interesting to see how they were created and what they are doing. There is no difference whatsoever in them when compared with ‘peace journalists’ and ‘NGO journalists’ but they work in a different field.

It is pharmaceuticals. We can come to this topic later but we are going to discuss a very important issue today on the negative propaganda launched by certain forces against the Government’s decision to prescribe drugs in their generic names.

When doctors and patients are involved in a conflict whose side can someone take? If you are a doctor you will take the doctor’s side and if you are a patient you will take the patient’s side. What if you are a journalist? (not a pharmaceutical journalist). No matter what we have to stand by the public and play the role of watchdogs.

It is a very well known fact that Prof.Senaka Bibile who loved the people and the country and faced all the forces bravely behalf of the innocent poor Sri Lankan people was murdered by poisoning while taking part in an international conference abroad.

The same forces are now chasing after present Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva as stated by him recently. Not surprising because he has a strong backbone and a heart that feels the pulse of innocent needy people.

The truth is branded drugs are more expensive not because they are better in quality but they need to cover the publicity and packaging cost. Now the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has taken steps to ensure the best quality in the existing free health service in Sri Lanka.

The latest step is ordering doctors to prescribe drugs in their generic names. Earlier they prescribed drugs in their trade names which led the public to buy very expensive drugs giving away their hard earned money to multinational drug companies while the same drug available at a very low price (the difference is sometimes between Rs. 5.00 and Rs. 100.00) in a different brand name.

Earlier when patients went to a pharmacy and asked for a drug (prescribed in brand name) the pharmacists usually explain that the same drug is available in a different brand and also assure that the drug is same.

The other fact is if necessary the doctors can tell the patients a good brand name after prescribing the drug in its generic name which is not prohibited at all. But still all concerned parties make a fuss for it. What are the reasons behind this? We are sure that it is not because they love innocent poor people.

According to the rules and regulations the doctors are supposed to take time and explain to the patients about the price difference and let the patient decide.

If the doctor does not do it, the patients can complain to the provincial director or the Health Ministry. These are the authorities who hold responsibility to take care of the matter. A doctor could be penalised with a fine or imprisonment if he/she does not carry out the instructions.

Here in Sri Lanka the patients know better than anyone else how some doctors ‘treat’ patients when they visit seeking kindness. They see patients like their enemies and do not spend time even to explain what has happened (the illness) to them.

The main objective of such doctors is to get rid of the innocent patients as soon as possible and save time for private practice.

During private practice they try their best to get rid of the patients in order to cover the entire number of patients (most of the time this number is much higher than the number he/she can examine).

Some ‘superman type doctors’ have the ability to write down the brand name of the drug as soon as the patient enters the room.

There is no question about providing drugs at affordable prices for the innocent needy patients who cannot afford expensive drugs.

They should be assisted to clearly identify bogus doctors, black market drug ‘Mudalalis’ and private hospitals waiting to exploit patients.

These are the rights of the public and the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has to ensure that the public get the best free health service.

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