News
No amount of attacks will intimidate me or the SLMC– Prof Carlo
View(s):
Carlo Fonseka addressing the media. Pic by Anuradha Bandara
The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) will not bow to intimidation and threats, was the strong message delivered on Thursday.
“Our duty is to secure the safety of patients and to ensure that, we look into the quality of medical education and the discipline of doctors,” SLMC President Prof. Carlo Fonseka told a media briefing, adding that no one including politicians could intimidate the SLMC and make it work for them. The SLMC is only bound by justice and religion, he said.
Referring to the grenade attack on the SLMC office around 11.30 p.m. on May 12, he said that the SLMC has faced seven such attacks, both on its members and buildings from 2002 up to now and they are due to the issue of the quality of Medical education. The pin of the grenade hurled at the SLMC on May 12 was pulled, but the grenade did not explode and was removed by the Bomb Squad next morning and detonated.
The third highest reason for mortalities in the United States of America in 2013 was accidents by doctors and this is why the SLMC is strict on the quality of medical practice in Sri Lanka, said Prof. Fonseka, adding, “I am 84 years old, yet these attacks cannot intimidate me”.
SLMC member Prof. Narada Warnasuriya said some people were accusing the SLMC and the statements were made to erode the confidence of the SLMC.
He explained that they were trying to make it seem that the SLMC was a pawn of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA).
“This is wrong, there were only five members who were earlier members in the GMOA, but due to some dispute they too they were removed from it,” he said .
Adding that the SLMC is independent and meets once a month to discuss quality issues and inquire into complaints against doctors, Prof. Warnasuriya said, “We are a democratic council. We all present our ideas and then agree on one idea.”
Reiterating that the SLMC makes decisions with good intentions and as such its members did not have any reason to hide, Prof. Warnasuriya said that their decisions are taken through inquiry and it is wrong to state that the SLMC took sides or to challenge its position because such decisions are taken for the betterment of the medical service.
Another SLMC member Dr. Upul Gunasekara said that if the grenade exploded it would have killed or injured people and damaged buildings within a 50-metre radius.
As the SLMC’s security cameras are directed towards the inside of the building, no images of the culprit who hurled the grenade have been captured. The police are looking at the footage of CCTV cameras of nearby houses, he added.
Meanwhile, urging that the autonomy of the SLMC should be protected, the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) expressed its “utmost concern” about the recent attack on the SLMC.
“The SLMC is the legally established institution to safeguard the standards of medical practice and medical education. With the recent developments regarding the standards of private medical education, we have seen that there are various parties with vested interests trying to demean this institution which has done its duty over the years to uplift the standards of medical practice, in spite of many obstacles,” an AMS press release said.
It stated that the SLMC has submitted a set of amendments consisting of 34 pages to the Health Ministry several years ago for which there had been no active interest on the part of the political authorities. These involve the establishment of a specialist registry and a change of composition of the Medical Council.
Listing the threats to the SLMC, the AMS stated: “On many occasions the SLMC has been intimidated and several attacks launched on the SLMC office and its members. As far as we are aware the culprits were not brought to book which gives us the impression that these attacks were sponsored by politically powerful elements. The SLMC office was attacked about 10 to 12 years ago when there was another private medical institution trying to get recognition.
“Subsequently there was a shooting incident involving the private residence of the then SLMC President Dr. H.H.R. Samarasinghe. There was a physical attack on the SLMC Registrar just outside his home. A grenade attack was reported on the private premises of an SLMC member who participated in an inspection team of a private medical institution and a former SLMC President was made to resign by intimidation and repeated harassment by powerful politicians of the previous regime. There was also an attack on an Assistant Registrar of the SLMC a few weeks ago over which we have complained to the Inspector General of Police and the Minister of Law and Order.
“We would like to ask the reasonable thinking public of this country an important question. Who should be responsible for medical practice and medical education in this country? Should it be businessmen with interests in profit margins and politicians whose conduct is well known to all of us or should it be the legally established institution with experienced professionals?
“We are strongly against individuals trying to take-over the functions of the SLMC. We stand by the SLMC which should be given all the necessary powers to maintain high standards and regulate the medical profession. It is the duty of the politicians to amend the Medical Ordinance to strengthen the position of the SLMC rather than insulting it at media conferences.
“The Association of Medical Specialists strongly urges the Health Minister to do his duty by the public by giving legal status to the technical report submitted by the SLMC on the controversial private medical institution.”
The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), meanwhile, stated that its management will be co-operating with the policy decisions presented by the Government and the suggestions made by President Maithripala Sirisena.
Primarily among these is the recommendation to broad-base the institute’s ownership by listing it on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Regarding the suggestion to suspend the enrolment of new students, SAITM is willing to co-operate with the Government to facilitate the implementation of the said proposals expeditiously, subject to the court case which is now awaiting a Supreme Court decision, a SAITM statement said, adding that the Chairman and management are confident that the Government will at all times protect the freedom of education in the country. SAITM will extend its fullest support to the Government’s efforts in maintaining quality and standards in medical education in Sri Lanka, across all medical faculties, state and non-state, sans discrimination.