Ever been to Clinic No 5, Colombo South Teaching Hospital?

Who in this world does not have a story? Who in this world has no cause for complaint? Who in this world is not plagued by the worst crisis that humankind has ever experienced? There was a time when I had to read about the horrors of the world. Now I get it all in my inbox. From multiple sources.

People write to me, urging me to take on this or that cause, promising me a lot of merit. ‘Pin sidda wei’ they predict. I tell them, ‘mata pin avashya nehe’, I don’t need ‘merit’. They ask, ‘bauddhayek nemeida’ (aren’t you a Buddhist?). I say, ‘bauddhayek thamai’ (yes, I am a Buddhist). ‘Ehenam?’ is the incredulous query that follows. My response: ‘pin karanne pau kaarayo’ (it is those who sin that want to do meritorious acts), and add, ‘pin and pau are descriptives of acts and if we follow the basic tenets we won’t have a negative balance sheet’. Maybe I am dead wrong about these things. My point is that I am not persuaded to do ‘good’. I like to think that what I do is the right thing to do and I know that I am wrong at times.

I read all feedback and learn a lot. In fact I use a lot of information that others pass on to me in my articles. Some I file away for the right moment, some I write about immediately. Last week I got a letter. It did not come to my email inbox. It came as a handwritten letter.

It is a story. It is a complaint. It is a crisis-related missive. About a horror or at least a horrible situation. It was not one letter, but three. And it was not written by one, but 65 people on behalf of nearly 2,900 people.

It is a story about people who have few choices and therefore can be pushed around, treated as though they are not important, can be made to undergo all kinds of inconveniences and hardships. Patients. Poor patients. Old patients. A complaint, let me repeat. Addressed to the Health Minister. I don’t envy the man. He’s got a lot of things to deal with. What bothered me about this particular letter (dated January 21, 2010) is that it reiterates the contents of a letter to the editor published in the Daily News of August 31, 2007, again addressed to the same minister. By a patient. A ‘high blood pressure patient’. The January 2010 letter was signed by ‘Patients of Clinic No 5’ of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila.

I am going to type out (word for word, typos, errors all) the letter that the patients of Clinic No. 5 had gone to hand-deliver to the Minister. They had been directed to give it to the Senior Assistant Scretary, Medical Services, Dr Piyasena Samarakoon. Here goes:

We, the undersigned are heart, diabetes and high blood pressure patients who attend, once a month on Thursdays the medical clinic (Room No 5) of Colombo South Teaching Hospital Kalubowila for medical treatment. Majority of us have been referred to this clinic by the doctors in wards No 5 and 9. We are aware that another batch of patients from the same awards takes treatment from the same clinic on Tuesdays each month during the afternoon. Approximately 2900 patients come to this clinic each month for treatment for the above mention ailments and face the same problems as given below.

Sir, for the past six or seven months only 25 percent of the patients present on a given day are examined by the doctors. With regard to the other patients, an attendent collects the exercise books along with the prescription cards of the patients, in the order they are seated in the hall. As a results books are not collected in the numerical order specified in the exercise book. Therefore the first come first serve basis is not adopted. Because of this a patient who comes to the clinic at 11 a.m. leaves the hospital at 12.30 a.m. and a patient who comes to the hospital at 8.00 am leave the hospital at 12.30 p.m. Thereafter the books and cards are taken to the very few doctors present for them to enter the next date of attendance, queue number and enter the same drugs given on the last month on the prescription cards. Due to this procedure, 75 percent of the patents are not examined by the doctors nor their pressure measured.

In medical practice the most important and vital aspect of a doctor is to check or measure the blood pressure of a patient, particular in regard to high blood pressure, heart and diabetics patients. This procedure is not followed in clinic No 5 because of the lack of doctors. High blood pressure of the majority patients are not checked for several months. If anybody inspects some of the exercise books of these patients they will note that for several months the pressure of patients have not been entered on the books.

The last occasion we attended the clinic was on December 24, 2009. Only 15 patients were examined on this day, pressure checked and entered in the books. The two innocent doctors present on this day had to enter the queue number and writer the previous prescription in the cards of almost 325 patients. As a results the patients became restless noisy, boisterous, angry, and helpless, because they were not seen by the doctors.

It is indeed in-human and unethical to treat patients in such a manner. Sir, we are not aware how many poor, helpless patients dies every month because of the negligence of the head of the wards and the administration of the Hospital to rectify these matters.

Therefore we respectfully request you to investigate into these matters and take speedy action to correct this unethical problem.

Dr Samarakoon had promised that a report would be solicited from the Director, Kalubowila Hospital. Last week, he had informed the petitioners that this had been done but no further details were available. He had requested a copy of the letter for action to be taken.

I am not a doctor and I would not dare comment on the importance or otherwise of checking the blood pressure of such patients. Still, there is no doubt that there is unpardonable negligence on the part of the health authorities, both at the ministerial level and in the hospital.

There is inefficiency. I am not sure if lack of resources is the limiting factor, but my hunch is that something has to be dreadfully wrong if 75 percent of the patients are not properly checked by doctors and if treatment is reduced to re-writing old prescriptions. The person who wrote to me is a retired public servant, a man who has taken notes from hundreds of meetings at the University Grants Commission. Many of the signatories to the petition can hardly write their names. The patient who wrote the 2007 letter claimed that 60 percent of the patients are disappointed and frustrated. It has got much worse now, apparently. ‘Put it down in writing’ they are told. Well, that they have. Nothing has happened.

I am not a patient, but I will be one if I get another such letter two years from now because nothing has happened to correct this unacceptable situation. I will probably die because I didn’t get the proper medical attention. Few would miss me, like few would have missed all the unknown person who died in their homes or who knows where because Clinic No 5 didn’t come through for them. There will be some curses, though. And I am told such things go a long distance.

Let’s not go there, Mr. Minister. Let’s not go there, Mr/Ms. Director, Colombo South Hospital. I know there are constraints. You know that a solution must be found. There are thousands of people waiting. A total of 2,900 every month. On average. Or so I am told. Make that 2901 (I added myself). My karma, yes, but that’s ok.

We need an answer.

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