Letters to the Editor
View(s):
The scene of a recent fatal accident
How many more lives have to be lost to get tough on traffic offenders?
Statistics of fatal road accidents point to 7-10 deaths per day in Sri Lanka. From numerous articles/information appearing in both print and electronic media, the general public has been made aware that the number of deaths taking place due to fatal accidents is very high. In such a background, the officials as well as the legislators who are responsible and accountable for safe, secure road use in this country, by motorists and pedestrians, will need to oversee that road rules and traffic laws are properly implemented. Sad to say, I observe that there is no continuity in implementation of same, but only knee-jerk reactions to public outcry, and as such the number of road deaths have been escalating instead of being brought under control or declining.
It was only last week that a traffic cop got run-down by a Moratuwa-Pettah bus at Galle-Face, Colombo-1 in broad daylight. The bus driver was speeding and driving on the “wrong lane”. Probably, in response to this unfortunate incident, the Police have been instructed, to take action from August 11 against vehicle drivers if they were found to be violating the speed limits, thereby re-activating the speed checking practice which had been suspended/abandoned for a few years. This is good news for the disciplined road user, or those who yearn for better road safety and I urge that emphasis be given for continuity of this practice while demonstrating to the public that it is proactively enforced at all times of the day.
Given the serious nature of the issue at hand, flimsy excuses such as a lack of traffic police manpower, lack of speed guns to check speeding vehicles, out dated equipment, inadequate speed sign etc., which hamper the speed-checking efforts, should not be tolerated. In fact it is high time to impose, ‘zero-tolerance’ considering the fact that the incidence of road accidents has now reached significant proportions as a public menace.
Of equal importance is to immediately act to deter bad habits of driving while using a mobile phone, ‘lane cutting’ by motorists and ‘jay walking’ by pedestrians while facilitating conditions for pedestrians to use the pavements free of any obstructions. Unless we implement an orchestrated effort to curb these bad habits on a priority basis, ‘road safety’ in Sri Lanka will remain a dream or an item in our ‘wish-list’.
Coming back to last week’s unfortunate incident where the victim was a traffic cop, it is recommended that there be more stringent enforcement of rules for bus drivers. Being a daily road user along the Galle Road, I see that among different categories of drivers it is the bus drivers who are the worst offenders of speeding and lane cutting. So let this incident be another ‘eye-opener’ for the traffic police and other regulatory bodies to be more serious in keeping them under check, for road safety.
We should not hesitate to hit traffic offenders where it hurts- their wallets – by strictly enforcing fines and blocking any loopholes that allow offenders to get off the hook by paying a bribe.
Priyantha Fernando
Moratuwa
‘I don’t want that bridge either’
This (above graphic) is a hard-hitting visual that gives us Indians an idea of how Lanka perceives us.
But and in India’s defence: we are not in the business of forcibly occupying other countries. We don’t need to. We are a gigantic, resources-rich land ourselves and are just about coming to grips with our many challenges.
Still and because I love Sri Lanka very much, I don’t want that bridge either. It’s a question of sheer size: we outnumber you. Consequently, more gigantic SUVs will thunder across it from our side. That will be the ecological and environmental end of the Gulf of Mannar. And given mythological links, I fear a ‘cultural invasion’ of Sri Lanka from India’s most densely populated states too.
Finally and given our gigantic industrial capacity, the ‘Made in India’ stamp, too, may become a real one.
(Unless we become so powerful and labour so expensive – and my tongue is firmly in cheek! – that we start outsourcing. In which case, you Sri Lankans will see more ‘Made in China by India’ products flood your markets. Take your pick!).”
But a more serious afterthought: for a country as small as Sri Lanka, would it ever be possible, indeed, advisable to attain complete industrial self-sufficiency? Industry needs space, and even the most environment-friendly factories would displace animal migratory patterns, cause a certain amount of deforestation. Is Sri Lanka, at least in order to preserve its timeless beauty and clean air, perhaps destined to always depend on foreign industrial products (like the Maldives) ?
And if so, would the trade-offs – if any – with India, which is culturally much closer to Sri Lanka than any other country – be better for you than say, with China? (which, given its ambitions in the Indian Ocean region, would demand strategic favours in return?)”
-Padma Rao Sundarji
Author, ‘Sri Lanka: The New Country’
Stamp out all that’s wrong in the ‘Foreign Mail Room’
I agree whole heartedly with K.G.M. Perera with regard to ‘Foreign letters lost in the post’ (Sunday Times July 12).
The problem in the Foreign Mail room has been evident for some time. There are complaints from many around the country. It is not easy for a few minor employees to resort to such practices. Is there a well organised racket operating in the ‘Foreign Mail Room’?
The Head of the Postal Department should immediately investigate the matter and clear the name of the Postal Department.
B.M. Fernando
Moratuwa
The forgotten bank pensioners who retired before 2006
The Director General of Pensions has issued a press notice mentioning that the salaries of government pensioners who retired before 2006 have been duly adjusted and the relevant payments in this regard have also been paid to them with their August pensions. While thanking the yaha palanaya government for the rectification of long awaited salary anomalies of government pensioners, I wish to appeal that in the same manner the salary anomalies of the state bank pensioners also be rectified without any delay.
The state bank pensioners are also senior citizens living in the same country and the cost of living affects all citizens equally regardless of caste, creed or grade. It is true that state banks pensioners belong to a different category of pension schemes that are managed by their respective banks. But, although state banks earn huge profits every year they seem to have ignored their ex-employees who sacrificed two thirds of their lives to bring their institutions to the present standard.
The authorities of the state banks should follow government procedure and rectify the anomalies of the bank pensioners who retired before 2006.
W.G. Chandrapala
(State bank pensioner)
Via email
The silent killer — the shame of our hospitals
I have just read the appreciation of a young rugger coach who was admitted to hospital with “stomach pains”, and ultimately died of septicemia with multiple organ failure. The problem of hospital infection has worried me for some time and it was this article that propelled me from apathy to activity.
My daughter despite having widespread metastases courageously continued with her normal lifestyle until her terminal illness.
She had a setback which necessitated major spinal surgery. While convalescing at home after surgery she suddenly developed tachycardia (rapid pulse) followed by difficulty in breathing and a fall in blood pressure.
Soon after admission to a private hospital she lapsed into unconsciousness. A CT scan of her brain revealed nothing significant. The haematologists’ diagnosis was ‘septic encephalitis’. Subsequently the blood report and culture revealed a florid septicemia due to a hospital infection with MRSA (Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
She too had renal failure and hepatic failure (multiple organ failure). Her death certificate did not mention septicaemia as a cause of death. Surgery had been performed at private hospital A, while admission for this terminal illness was at hospital B.
The infection was almost certainly post surgical contributed by her compromised immunological status which also resulted in the lack of overt symptoms initially such as a cough and temperature.
When I recounted her story to a surgeon I knew, the response was, “Yes this is prevalent in private hospital C too”.
All too often one hears of patients admitted with one complaint (say a cardiac infarct) showing improvement and ultimately dying of septicaemia.
It is shocking that such a situation is accepted by the hospital staff and administration.
The following preventives are essential:
a. Regular throat swabs obtained from the staff, particularly the nursing staff to exclude carriers of MRSA
b. Optimum precautions taken by the staff when nursing patients with low immunity
c. Visitors to the ICU, CCU should be required to wear ‘cap, gown and mask’ as is the practice in several other countries
d. Patients with lung infection should not be in the same special care unit as cardiac patients.
We choose to enter private hospitals and do not complain at the high charges with the expectation of optimum standards of care, which involves the protection of the patient from secondary infection.
The indifferent attitude of the staff with regard to this is deplorable. Unfortunately, as a nation we tend to be apathetic when it comes to protesting against public issues.
Minister of Health this is over to you
A concerned doctor/parent
Via email
Recalling John Still’s “Poems in Captivity”
John Still, superb writer, is famous in Sri Lanka as the author of “Jungle Tide” that wonderful evocation of our verdant forests. However, only a few know that he fought in the British Army in its ill-fated expedition against Turkey in Gallipoli, was captured and spent three years in prison camps. During his captivity he wrote poetry – about battle, captivity and the forests of the Wanni and its ruined cities. These , frequently moving and nostalgic, poems were later published as “Poems in Captivity”.
I quote brief extracts that give glimpses of their rhythm and deeply felt emotion.
“Christmas day,
Christmas day
Across the yard with
footsteps slow
The sentries pace the
mud below;
The wind is cold , the
sky is grey’
Christmas day in a
prison camp,
With freedom dead as
a burnt out lamp,
The lions eat and the
lions rage,
Three steps and a turn in a narrow cage,
And I am as free as they.”
In a lovely visualization of a jungle glade he writes -
“…like the breath of some pervading god
The fragrance of ehala fills the air
Its blossom glowing golden in the glare
Down from a flowering tree top in the sky”
Tissa Devendra
Via email