Unbecoming conduct

THE conduct of the nurses of the Peradeniya Teaching hospital who struck work purely over an administrative matter is unbecoming of the practitioners of the noble profession to say the least.

It was reported that certain nurses had resorted to sabotage by even removing the life support systems of patients in the intensive care unit and also cutting telephone connections.

This is an indictment on the nursing fraternity reputed for their legendary healing touch and the famous smile and tender care that go long way to aid the recovery of the patient.

Instead, what had occurred at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital was a blatant act of thuggery where far from assisting in the healing of patients the nurses transformed themselves into agents of death. The Government should act fast in bringing the culprits to book and deterrent punishment meted out to the perpetrators of this heinous act.

It was only the other day we editorially commented on the need to improve the lot of the nursing fraternity after President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave an assurance to resolve all their outstanding grievances including provision of hostel facilities for nurses.

The latest act of the nurses amount to a challenge to the Government which should be met head on. It is a disgrace to the profession of nursing which carries noble ideals ingrained in human compassion that some of their fraternity had acted to endanger the lives of patients in their care.

This is why this latest act by the nurses cannot be condoned by any right thinking citizen. It appears that the nurses too are now following in the footsteps of their more illustrious superiors who have no qualms about downing their stethoscopes at the drop of a hat holding the innocent patients to ransom and all indications point to the makings of a mafia among the nursing fraternity following their mentors in the medical profession.

It is therefore incumbent on the authorities to arrest this latest trend with a firm hand before the such acts become common in the future leading to the collapse of the country’s health institutions.

The authorities should to not cave into the machinations of sinister elements who may be working to political agendas to bring the Government into difficulty at a time when the doctors too are daggers drawn against the Minister of Health. True, nurses too have their grievances that needs looking into by the authorities.

But their first option should be discussion rather than wilfully sabotaging the treatment of innocent patients. Precipitate action that puts the patients’ lives on the line is hardly the way to earn the appellation of ‘nightingales’ affixed to the nursing fraternity.

They owe it to the state for providing them with the training to carry out their profession in a dignified manner. The Government on its part should act fast and declare nursing as an essential service and hound out those elements who play around with the lives of innocent patients.

Tough times for Tigers

THE decision by the Tamil Nadu Government to take stern action against those who speak in support of the LTTE will be greeted with wry smiles by Sri Lankans familiar with the history of the ethnic conflict.

It is a stark irony that the vary State that provided succour and sustenance and raised the genie that is the LTTE is today going out of its way to put the kibosh on the outfit.

The Congress Party too has got into the act and demanded the arrest of another LTTE sympathiser in the Tamil Nadu state for his comments at a recent public speech demanding the revocation of the ban on the LTTE.

True the LTTE was banned first in India but it is well known that Tamil Nadu is still used as an outpost by the LTTE to carry out its clandestine activities against the Sri Lankan state.

It appears from recent events that the LTTE lobby is losing its clout. One instance was the break up of the rally organised by Pro- LTTE stalwarts Vaiko and Nedumaran and also the intervention of the Indian law enforcement to stop the duo from sending ‘relief’ supplies to Sri Lanka’s North.

The recent spate of arrests of hardcore LTTE activists in the State has also turned the heat on the outfit in the Tamil Nadu State.

The Government should seize the latest developments in Tamil Nadu to press for more stringent measures to curb arms smuggling to the North and also to break up the various clandestine LTTE cells operating in the State.

We should seize the initiative of the efforts by the Tamil Nadu state to clamp down on LTTE activity to seek assistance for extra measures to isolate the outfit and break up its clandestine operations.