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With security forces at the helm SL finally on a holistic approach to tackle drowning
Sri Lanka is to finally introduce a national policy for drowning prevention, the second most common cause of accidental death after traffic incidents.
Admiral Wijegunaratne addressing the meeting of key tri-forces and police personnel and Life Saving representatives
The effort is being led by the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on the instructions of President Maithripala Sirisena. It has been tasked with coordinating all institutions involved in drowning prevention–and currently working in isolation–towards a holistic, national approach to the problem.
According to a 2014 World Health Organisation global report on drowning, Sri Lanka is 12th out of 61 countries in terms of how many deaths it records. And out of 35 low and middle income nations, it is 10th. An estimated 850-1,000 (data collection needs improvement) die per year.
The issue was brought to President Sirisena’s notice by Austin Fernando, former Secretary to the President. It was decided that the CDS office will jumpstart dormant efforts to draft and implement solutions. The subject was presented before the last National Security Council meeting, attended by the President and Prime Minister and the need to have a high-level body to introduce and implement a cohesive system was highlighted.
Among institutions presently involved is the Sri Lanka Coastguard that maintains 13 lifesaving stations on the beach and has saved 1,057 lives, including those of foreigners, since it started drowning prevention work in 2009.
The police have their own service while the army has disaster management-capable platoons in every district which include lifesavers. The 70-year-old Sri Lanka Life Saving (SLLS) also has programmes, some of which have international backing, particularly from Australia’s Life Saving Victoria. They are authorized to certify lifesavers. The civil defence force, too, has deployed personnel at various locations.
The navy, during wartime, had a unit called Rapid Action Boat Squad which was converted into the Rapid Response Rescue and Relief Unit (4RU) after the war ended. They were trained in using small boats and working in rough water conditions and are particularly active during floods.
“We all have capabilities,” reflected Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). “What we require is to put them all together. Everybody in the country is well aware of why we need this so the idea is to pool resources and have a national action plan.”
This week, Admiral Wijegunaratne summoned a meeting of key tri-forces and police personnel as well as Sri Lanka Life Saving representatives who will be involved in future efforts. The national plan will be under President Sirisena and the CDS will hold an advisory role. It will have components of lifesaving and swimming training as well as first aid.
“My time scale is another two weeks to get a national plan drawn up,” Admiral Wijegunaratne said. “From today onwards, when we work on this, we should have only one aim–to save at least one life from drowning. It doesn’t matter who is doing it, whether it’s army, navy, air force, police, civilian, anybody, the important thing is saving a life.”
It was also important to educate the public. The example of Australia was cited where a massive campaign had led to widespread awareness that swimming must only take place between flags denoting lifesaver surveillance over that area. The culture must change.
“We had a very capable lifesaving post in Aluthgama,” the CDS recounted. “One day the lifesavers had a strike. When we asked why, they said that when they warned some intoxicated people not to wander into a dangerous area, one of them had removed the flag post and hammered the lifesaver with it. This is our culture. We not only have to educate people, we have to discipline them.”
The CDS said he will also hold meetings in future with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Disaster Management, Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and Ministry of Health. The civil defence force can be particularly useful in rural areas to train school children.
The Disaster Management Ministry–in conjunction with SLLS, DMC, Life Saving Victoria and Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (Sri Lanka)–already has a draft national action plan containing six strategies to prevent drowning. There has, however, been no action beyond this.
The six areas are: deliver swimming and water safety education; communicate and manage information for water safety; provide lifesaving and water safety services; conduct water safety research and development; maximize economic benefits for tourism through safe water-related activities; and develop regulations for governance of water safety and drowning prevention.
Five possible projects were also identified: Establishing a national governing entity for drowning prevention and water safety; developing a surveillance system; developing a risk profile (identifying beaches that are unsafe, etc); improving swim-for-safety curriculum; and customising pool and beach operations guidelines.
“The forces have a huge, good workforce,” pointed out Sanath Wijayaratne, Immediate Past President of SLLS and Trustee of the Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth for the Asia Pacific Region. “Instead of carrying a weapon, they can now easily carry a rescue tube and save many people. What we need is to start on the national plan and address the issue. We have one drafted but could not execute it.”
Admiral Wijegunaratne instructed participants to tell him by next week their lifesaving capabilities and training requirements. Based on that, a programme would be worked out.
“If we can train more and more lifesavers, more and more lives will be saved,” he said. “We will not stop there. This has to be a tradition and way of life.” For instance, an initiative could be introduced to provide healthy meals for children after swimming training, as an incentive in rural areas.
Sri Lanka Coastguard also made suggestions at the meeting. Captain HRFM Tissera, Director Operations, recommended awareness programmes for school children; enhancement of lifesaving deployment; water safety and awareness for fishermen and general public, etc.
“Recently, we lost two fishermen at the harbour mouth because of rough seas,” he said. “We suggest notices or boards in danger areas, making it compulsory to wear life jackets at sea and an island wide programme to impart basic swimming skills. A national drowning prevention week will help educate the public. Areas vulnerable to flooding can be identified in conjunction DMC and lifesavers can be deployed in preparation.”