The killer kidney disease

Events and incidents that largely went unnoticed during the war years are now coming to the fore to capture public attention. These include the shortcomings in many State institutions and Departments that became obfuscated due to the attention diverted towards the war. The current focus has mainly been on the education sector for the many blunders in the setting of exam papers. The health sector too has been increasingly in the public spotlight particularly on its handling of the dengue outbreak.

However, a much more serious development is unfolding in the North Central Province where kidney patients are growing in numbers. According to our front page story today, over 2,000 new kidney patients are found annually at the Anuradhapura Renal Care and Research Centre. At least 40 new patients are being diagnosed every week. Among these are a large number of young patients, some in their last stages of the disease.

But what is shocking is that only those below 40 years of age receive free dialysis at the Centre. The rest who are mostly breadwinners of their families have little chance of survival given the prohibitive cost of the treatment particularly given their social and economic background since a majority of these people are farmers and a good portion of Samurdhi recipients.

According to Anuradhapura Hospital Director Dr. W.M.T.B. Wijekoon, 305 kidney patients were admitted to the hospital in 2008 of which 130 died, while of the 834 patients admitted to the hospital in 2007, 208 succumbed to the disease. This certainly is an unacceptable death ratio and something the health authorities would have to address immediately.

The number of Dialysis machines should be increased so that the treatment could be given free for all irrespective of age. We see so many donations of medical supplies and equipment by foreign missions here. Why cannot the Health Ministry make a request for a few dialysis machines to the kidney patients of Anuradhapura?

Why cannot arrangements be made for kidney patients denied dialyses to be treated at a facility elsewhere convenient to them?

This revelation of the ordeal undergone by the kidney patients in Anuradhapura is another instance of the poor state of our rural hospitals despite the proud boast by the Ministry of equipping all hospitals with the latest facilities. Let alone dialyses, today some of our rural hospitals don’t even have the most essential drugs compelling patients to seek them outside at a huge cost.

One wonders what benefits accrue to the public by our so-called free health service if they are forced to purchase all essential drugs which ought to be supplied by the hospitals. Some rural hospitals are not even accessible to the people due to poor roads and bus services while some hospitals are in the worst dilapidated conditions as highlighted in the media in many instances.

It is our proud boast that we have one of the best health services in Asia. May be the many shortcomings, as mentioned, were not apparent before due to the country’s obsession with the war.

The growing number of kidney patients in the North Central Province and their ordeal may be the tip of the iceberg and a symptom of the general decay. It is time that the health authorities take stock of the situation and provide remedies to the many ailments afflicting the country’s health sector. They could start by immediately addressing the trauma plaguing the Kidney patients in the North Central Province by affording all patients the vital dialysis treatment free of charge.

A deterrent move

According to our front page story yesterday, the Government is pondering the reintroduction of the hangman as an answer to the spate of gruesome murders and organized crime sweeping the country. A coordinated program is to be launched under the joint participation of the Justice and Defence Ministries to closely look at the crime picture in the country and apply remedies.

The hangman has been touted as a deterrent that could stem the crime wave from the by gone days. Yes, to a certain extent. But it is doubtful if the trend could be reversed dramatically with the re-introduction of capital punishment.

For one thing a majority of murders today are not premeditated and committed under sudden provocation or on the heat of the moment. Most of these relate to land disputes and drug induced brawls. Even in the case of planned murders, there is no guarantee that a conviction would ensue.

On the contrary, the pathetic statistics of a four per cent conviction rate by our Police is bound to embolden our criminals rather than seeing the hangman as a deterrent. Therefore if the hangman is to be efficacious there needs to be a complete overhaul of the entire judicial framework of criminal prosecution and a set of laws that would make a criminal mind think twice before plunging into his fell deed. Until such time, the hangman would only be a dead rope.