Sick channelling in hospitals

I wish to respond to Nadira Gunatilleke’s views on the above subject that appeared in the Daily News ‘HealthWatch’ feature on September 13 and 20 . I am a frequent visitor to the channel centres in Kandy and at times in Colombo for the last several years. Fortunately I did not face this situation in the Glass House or Nawaloka and in Kandy Channel Centres this situation never arose. There are times that doctors arrive a little later than a schedule. This happens due to unavoidable traffic jams or exigencies of their duties in the hospitals they work.

As highlighted in Nadira’s article I have not seen consultants meeting Medical Sales Representatives before seeing patients or the nurses employed in these channel centres numbering over 10, here engaged in love chats. To be fair by the consultants in Kandy, I must say that they are exemplary in the patient care. Of course as humans they may have their lust for money, but as I have observed their priority is the interests of the sick under their care.

These consultants give appointments at a number of channel centres on a day. This may cause a little delay in travelling from place to place. But on the other hand this is convenient to the sick as they can channel outside the Kandy City in Nursing Homes without getting into traffic jams. I have channelled Physicians, Rheumatalogists, Cardiologists and Dermatologists during the last 10 years, but as Nadira says these doctors have never released their tiredness and anger on me perhaps due to my luck. Or is it that the doctors working in Kandy do not get tired due to the salubrious climate in the Hill Capital!

The powerful and well connected people should take the blame themselves when they try to pull their weight even among the sick. In such situations those waiting with appointments to see the doctors themselves can protest against such discriminations. In Kandy there are no wheel-chairs in-patient queues as the in-patients do not see their consultants in channel centres. I have not seen in-patients brought to the channel centres. They are seen by the doctors in the institution itself.

The doctors have nothing to do with the fees charged for the channel centre. Therefore refund is not within their purview. Channel centres thrive on these earnings. If the free health service in the country can be improved most of these problems could be overcome. But can it happen any day in Sri Lanka?

The most developed countries in the world do not provide free health and medical facilities. They are so costly so that some Sri Lankans domiciled in affluent countries come here to attend to their medical needs. In whatever service there are human factors that interplay and we have to bear in such situations. But overall it must be appreciated that most of these doctors to their credit devote valuable time and skill to the uplift of the welfare of the society at large, rather than their own families.

L K Karalliyadde