Letters
View(s):Nicety of language was the hallmark of Parliamentary debates then
From about the time I was an eighth former at St. Joseph’s College in the late 1940s when Sir Francis Molamure was the Speaker I have been a keen follower of the proceedings of the country’s legislature.
My respect for this august assembly came to be firmly ingrained in my heart in 1949 when I was in the pre-SSC class. The English teacher Cecil Graham who later became the editor of the Ceylon Daily News asked the students to read the Parliamentary speeches particularly of S.W. R.D. Bandaranaike, W. Dahanayake, Dudley Senanayake and Bernard Aluvihare. The Editorial of the CDN was a must. Reading these not only broadened the minds of the students, but more importantly, certainly improved their English.
Commencing in the early 60’s I was to follow Parliamentary proceedings closely because on numerous occasions I had to perform official duties in Parliament. As the ASP of the CID in charge of the VIP Security Division I was compelled to be in the House whenever Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake was there.
Unlike today the VIP Security Division then had only one ASP (as head), five Inspectors and about 10 Police constables. There were only two VIPs in the country who were provided security by the Police, the Governor General and the Prime Minister! They did not even have pilot cars and backup vehicles except on ceremonial occasions. Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake was humble and modest. He liked to drive his own private vehicle. On several occasions he travelled to the Prime Minister’s office in the old Senate building in the Fort from his home ‘Woodlands’ seated in the front seat of my Peugeot 203 driven by me.
The old Parliament building by the Galle Face Green unlike the high security ‘Alcatrez’ of the Diyawanna was a homely place. I can never forget the courtesy and hospitality extended to me by Ronnie Abeysinghe, the Sgt. at Arms.
It is with nostalgia that I remember Speakers Sir Albert Pieris, Hugh Fernando, Stanley Tillekeratne and Bakeer Marker. Notwithstanding the exalted office they held they were humble and friendly. All senior officials visiting Parliament on duty were treated with respect. I still remember the long and friendly conversations I was fortunate to have with the late Speakers Stanley Tillekaratne and Bakeer Marker.
Speeches, particularly of the Senior members of the House laced with wit and repartee held the listeners spellbound. Angry outbursts and unacceptable language were rare. Nicety of language was the hallmark of Parliamentary debates.
In the 50’s and 60’s our Parliament had men of admirable stature endowed with ready wit. I wonder how many of our present-day Parliamentarians have read the speeches of former stalwarts like S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Dudley Senanayake, Colvin R. de Silva, Pieter Keuneman, N.M. Perera, Phillip Gunawardena, A. Amirthalingam and V. Navaratnam.
Apart from healthy debates that led to intelligently discussed, distilled and refined legislative enactments, the orderliness and discipline requiring the minimum intervention of the Speaker was indeed the hallmark of Parliament. To prevent the wastage of Parliamentary time was the concern of every member. All members were keen to make studied, useful contributions. Unlike today the Parliament library was well patronized by the members.
The majority of the members on both sides of the House were men and women of erudition who were decent and disciplined. Little wonder Parliament was looked up to and admired by everybody for its discipline, dignity and decorum.
As an octogenarian, the deterioration of Parliamentary behaviour saddens me. I pity the schoolchildren who are taken on ‘educational’ tours to this apex assembly.
A former Speaker blamed the voters for sending such riffraff to Parliament. I wrote to the newspapers emphasizing the fact that the voters have no choice. They have no alternative but to vote for the candidates who have been put forward by Party leaders.
Under the prevailing system, national leaders are invariably leaders of political parties. It is their responsibility to nominate men and women of unblemished character who can be expected to uphold and defend the traditions, dignity and decorum of Parliament.
The undeniable truth is that candidates for Parliamentary elections and even Provincial and Local Government elections are selected by political parties not because they are qualified in every respect to be honourable legislators but because either they are relations or friends of the party hierarchy or because they have adequate ill-gotten wealth and the ability to muster the support of thugs, criminals and the underworld.
Needless to say these men and women cannot be expected to uphold the dignity of Parliament. To make matters worse these are the people who clamour for perks and privileges most. They sell their duty free vehicle permits, make maximum use of the cafeteria, employ their kith and kin as private secretaries, coordinating secretaries etc., collect the house rent allowance without living in rented premises and misuse their power even to intimidate OICs of police stations.
At this critical moment in the country’s history when a new Constitution is being contemplated, sadly no one has spoken, or proposed ways and means of improving the quality of the legislators. Most of the problems of the country from devolution of power, health, education and law and order would certainly have been more intelligently approached by Parliament if the general membership of this Assembly was better educated. A basic minimum qualification must be laid down constitutionally. With over ten Universities in the country why can’t at least our Ministers be graduates?
The prestige of a country depends to a large extent on the performance of its organizations. The smooth functioning of the legislative bodies, the courts of law, the Police, universities, schools, hospitals etc. are vital for a nation’s success. Of all these, Parliament is the apex organization. For this august assembly to regain its stature, it needs more men and women of erudition. The hallmark of a successful organization is discipline. Parliament or elsewhere, with more and more educated people discipline is bound to thrive.
Roshan Mahanama, one of the finest sportsmen produced by Sri Lanka, as the Chief Guest at the awards ceremony of the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year noted, “I must congratulate the organizers for not inviting politicians for sporting events of this nature. I remember when I won the award almost 30 years ago, I was given the award by a politician, but I must say he was a respected politician. But at present the good politicians could be counted on fingers. I salute the organizers for that” (The Sunday Times of 13/11).
The whole nation should salute Roshan Mahanama for this courageous and truthful utterance.
Edward Gunawardena
Via email
Price control on drugs: Give it a chance
For several years now the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has been grappling with what is virtually price control and limitation of the number of imported drugs, without compromising on quality. The new NMRA Chairman Prof. Asita de Silva came up with a feasible proposal a few weeks ago, only to face a barrage of criticism in the press, which still continues.
Prof. De Silva was an excellent clinician (consultant physician) prior to being appointed as Prof. of Pharmacology. Thus, his knowledge of drugs is not merely theoretical.
He succinctly described his proposal at the Prof. Senaka Bibile Commemoration meeting held recently.
He said it was similar to the Indian drug policy, but instead of using the average mean price for the purpose of price control, he opted for the median price [which would be the maximum retail price] in view of the large number of drugs in each category and the wide variation in price.
He has initially dealt with 48 of the most commonly used drugs.
As an example, I shall consider the two most frequently prescribed anti-hypertensives he has included in his list, selected from a wide range of drugs. The British National Formula (BNF) classifies them into five groups, depending on their site of action, each category contains two or more drugs. The drugs he deals with are a very popular Beta blocker, and an equally popular angiotensin 2 receptor blocker Losarten. The price of the other available drugs including other Beta blockers and angiotensin 2 receptor blockers is not affected.
No drug in his list must be priced more than the median price. If the manufacturers are unhappy with this, their drug would be withdrawn from the market. However, there will be several alternatives to chose from. Critical comments at this stage, before the effect of his proposals is assessed objectively, are unwarranted I believe.
There is a crying need for flexibility on the part of Physcians, Patients, and Pharmacists.
For those who are convinced of the superior efficacy of brand name drugs, I shall conclude with an anecdote from the “Bibile era”.
Prof. Bibile visited Bulgaria in the ‘70s [then an east European communist country}, which was a potential source of cheap effective generic drugs. He was astounded to learn that renowned pharmaceutical companies imported antibiotics in bulk from there, packed them in attractive capsules and then sold them at an exorbitant price!
Dr. Premini Amerasinghe
Kandy
Hard-pressed to find clean place to answer the call of nature
This Government too appears to have got its priorities mixed up. The previous government too instead of carrying out activities to solve the urgent needs of people exhausted billions of rupees on matters which were much less significant and imperative. Some major issues that should be addressed are the need for clean drinking water, threat to farmers by wild elephants, marketing harvests, chronic kidney disease – all of which cause several adverse long-term socio- economic impacts which affect health, education and many other aspects of the rural population and of course, the job market.
One priority however addressed by the President that has not been able to get off ground is the lack of public toilets.
President Maithripala Sirisena has publicly lamented that there are many schools without toilets. A National Water Supply and Drainage Board survey revealed a few years ago that about 1,300 primary and secondary schools did not have proper sanitary facilities. This figure would be much higher now.Two civil society outfits have disclosed that there are schools where students are discouraged from drinking water for want of toilets and this practice has rendered those hapless children prone to renal problems.
It is also reported that absenteeism is widespread among girls in certain schools during menstruation. This is an indictment on the two main parties which have ruled the country for decades. Functional, hygienic, acceptable toilets have never been in the minds of the politicians because they do not believe in a ceremonial opening of the toilet. What schoolchildren go through is wretched.
Although tourism is constantly promoted by all governments, there are no clean toilets, for that matter any toilets along roads and towns, apart from those in wayside small hotels which are not at all hygienic. Hence one has to hold on for hours to answer a call of nature.
In complete contrast as a Sri Lankan who is fortunate to live in Australia I wish to note that there are more than 14,000 public and private hygienic toilet facilities across the country. This is shown in a national public toilet map prepared by the state. Useful information is provided about each toilet, location, opening hours, availability of baby change rooms, accessibility for disabled persons and also about parking facilities.
On the contrary let alone the tourists, Sri Lankans who travel long distances by bus are subjected to stress and anxiety when they need to answer a call of nature. It is time our politicians realise that public toilets are more significant than building international playgrounds and even airports.
Sunil Thenabadu
Brisbane
The nightmare my wife had to live through as a patient
I wish to inform the general public regarding the poor nursing care and medical negligence we recently encountered following the hospitalisation of my wife at a leading private hospital.
On Saturday, July 9, my wife was having severe pain, swelling and redness on her right leg and we were advised to consult a Surgeon at the hospital. After examination, he diagnosed Cellulitis for which some antibiotics and a pain killer were prescribed. There was no improvement the following day, Sunday July 10 and since her condition was getting worse, we decided to admit her under the care of this Surgeon. From the ETU, she was transferred to Ward 8C. She was started on antibiotics given intravenously, besides, the usual medication taken for osteo-arthritis and diabetic condition that was given by me.
On Monday, the 11th night, the nurse/sister, even though I protested, gave my wife an 80mg Diamicron tablet although the dosage she was taking was only 30mg. This resulted in my wife feeling drowsy the next day and wanting only to sleep, refusing to eat or drink. The same morning when the Surgeon came on his routine visit accompanied by the lady House Officer, I informed both of them what had happened the previous night but they did not think that her blood sugar level should be tested but instead said that it MAYBE due to the antibiotics. In the evening, the Ward Doctor wanted a blood test taken and the reading was 56. Thereafter the nursing staff got activated and gave her several doses of dextrose until the level rose to 128 which was after midnight. That too, after giving her a cup of hot tea with a lot of sugar. Had the Surgeon/lady House Officer correctly diagnosed that morning that her drowsiness was due to low blood sugar, it would have been a complete different scenario.
Furthermore, due to the carelessness of the nursing staff, my wife was not sponged until Wednesday 13th and that too, after we questioned them. At that point, we noticed and pointed out redness on her back which was not taken seriously and which eventually led to a bed sore.
On Thursday, 14th morning, she was moved to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) for observation and monitoring and the Surgeon said that if there was no improvement, she would be moved to the I.C.U. At no stage did he convey to me that her condition was critical. He only mentioned that she had gone into sepsis shock which we did not understand. That evening, when he made his routine call, we noticed that he was uneasy and decided just in time to get a second opinion.
We were very fortunate to get a capable, efficient and experienced General Physician who immediately diagnosed that the treatment should have been Pencillin and that too, she prescribed after consulting a Microbiologist. The General Physician took control of the situation thereafter and the surgeon took a back seat but came everyday. We also noticed from the reports, that the infection in her blood (CRP) which should have been less than 3 had gone upto 530. Only after the General Physician introduced Pencillin which brought the level down to 105, did the readings improve.
We got to know from a reliable source that my wife’s liver and kidneys had got affected and she was coming in for heart failure. This was confirmed at the ICU. Thanks to the General Physician, several other specialist doctors at the ICU and of course through our prayers, my wife is alive today.
On Friday 15th, my wife was transferred to the ICU and was there until Tuesday 19th. During her stay there, she gives all credit to the doctors and staff for the excellent service and care she received. They were very attentive and she was given body sponges morning and evening unlike at the ward. By now, they had also discovered that she had a bed sore on her back. After she came out of the I.C.U., the Surgeon only instructed the nursing staff to dress the bed sore which he never examined.
On Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st, she was back in the High Dependency Unit (HDU). During her stay here, she was body sponged only once.
On Friday 22nd, she was moved to the ward once again. We noticed that there was a crust on top of her foot following the blister that was cut by the surgeon in the ward who could not take a proper decision as to what action should be taken. At this point, a Dermatologist was brought in with no proper result. Then a Vascular Surgeon was consulted who compressed the leg by bandaging. Unfortunately, since he was not available on that day, he entrusted the consulted surgeon to remove and clean up the leg which was done in the theatre. At this time, we did notice a few more blisters on the leg. However, after discharge and when she was subsequently brought for a dressing, we were surprised to see how much he had cut and chopped her leg, creating deep wounds right around the ankle area thereby putting her into more misery and excruciating pain.
She was on pampers from the time she was moved out from the I.C.U. We found that the washroom bin was overflowing with soiled pampers as the janitorial staff clean the wash room only in the mornings and thereafter if the need arises, they are supposed to be informed. This was never done. There was a lack of cleanliness and hygiene. Sad to note that some of the trainee nurses did not even know how a pamper should be dressed.
Trainee nurses had absolutely no clue on how to wash a patient. On Tuesday 26th, the trainee nurse did not know how to mix the hot and cold water and instead just held the shower with hot water directly to my wife’s body which could have burnt her skin. They also came unprepared and then left the patient to fetch items like cotton wool and pampers which should be readily available in the room at all times. On one occasion, we had to wait for pampers to be ordered from the pharmacy.
The following day, 27th was even worse with the nursing staff being indifferent to my wife’s needs and leaving her waiting nearly 45 minutes for attention in the toilet.
My wife was discharged from hospital on July 27. On the discharge sheet, there was no mention about the treatment to be given for the bed sore nor the pencillin injection that the Microbiologist had prescribed to be given once a month for six months.
About a week later, we noticed that the bed sore was getting infected from under the skin and since we did not want to go back to this surgeon, we consulted another surgeon who recommended immediate surgery which was done and further, at our request, the leg too was entrusted to his care and the wounds are healing.
Our entire family underwent immense pain of mind and my poor wife has gone through so much suffering that it will take months for her to recover fully. I made a written complaint to the hospital on July 31 and have had no written response although I was called for an inquiry on October 10 with the Director Medical Services, Medical Superintendent, Chief Matron, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Medical Officer, Quality Assurance. They have not come back to-date.
I have also addressed a letter to the surgeon concerned on October 3, and here again, I have had no response.
Sampath Paranavitane
Rajagiriya