Letters to the Editor
View(s):Why do doctors think they are special creations?
Your news item on page 2 of the Sunday Times of July 29, refers to the Medical doctors who are requesting for special privileges, namely – on school admissions for their children, enhanced salaries etc.
As for me, I am a PhD Engineer who served in the most outlandish generating stations – no private practice to mint money, finding it difficult to meet daily expenses and not being able to send my children abroad for education, leave alone getting them admitted to a decent school/college in Colombo, BUT not forgetting I was a product of free education right up to my BSc Engineering at the then University of Ceylon and partly funded for my PhD.
I don’t crow about the trials and tribulations one faces at our generating stations to maintain uninterrupted power supply in the island even working right round the clock attending to faults on the machines.
We remain thankful to the modern innovations and instrumentation at our stations which help us to even carry out preventive maintenance as against waiting for breakdowns and power outages. Compared to the very basics at our old Laxapana generating station as against the recent stations like Samanalawewa having fibre optics control systems.
The medical doctors need to realise that their present day work is far easier (pardon me for saying “simple”) than that of their predecessors.
Very soon artificial intelligence software (not written by or based on information given by them) will assist in diagnosis and suggest what tests are needed and also indicate what medicines could be used.
Diagnosis is made very much easier due to the numerous machines made available to them. Those who designed / made / tested these machines and those who maintain them now are equally important actors in this whole picture of curing patients in the medical sector. (Please see below a list of some of the machines used by doctors)
Furthermore – the days of listing out various “ingredients” to instruct the dispenser to make a “powder” for the patient to be given orally are over - also a mixture (shake the bottle ) are now all gone. It is the researcher and the pharmaceutical factories who now have flooded the market with various tried and tested drugs – which the medical doctors prescribe.(Pardon me – after being subject to intense persuasion – and incentives dangled in front of them). There are reference books for the “drug of choice” as well. Also there is a wealth of information they can refer to on the Internet when at home – after their hard days work !
Even in the field of surgery the medical doctors depend on robotics designed by Engineers and maintained by them. Precise key hole surgery all assisted by machine robotics. Skill is required just as much as a good technician whose skill is of utmost importance when intricate equipment is dismantled / put together, Use of laser in surgery etc have built-in safety features as well.
As such medical doctors fall into one link in the chain which goes into curing a patient . Therefore if the government gives into such unreasonable draconian demands - we could also rise up and demand equal treatment (no pun intended ! ).
I need not mention the trials and tribulations we (engineers) went through during the last JVP insurrection where some of us had to meet in each others’ homes to map out our day-to-day work and to don army uniforms to attend to destroyed transmission towers. In fact our breed (i.e. engineers) should ask for much more benefits than the medical doctors. Some of us work not in air-conditioned rooms but in the blistering sun – inside dewatered tunnels with tons of water on the other side in the reservoirs – which could lead to a major disaster in case the “gates” give way.
I think the time has come for all to voice their opinion about the demands of medical doctors.
Also the Government should take bold steps to allow foreign countries to open medical colleges here – regardless of protests from doctors here. Have people with a back bone in the Medical Council to take bold decisions and also let us have politicos who do not bend to such demands but act boldly.
Here are some machines used by the medical fraternity: Pulse oximeters, Electro stimulation, Ultrasound units, Electrosurgery equipment, ECG machines, Magnet Therapy, Audiometry equipment,Ultrasound equipment, Nebulisers, Spirometers, Angelsounds fetal heart monitor, Medical monitors, Holters, Surgical suction machines and much more.
So – my dear doctors you all should not consider yourselves as special creations.
Nandanee Gunawardane Via email
Making tourism our greatest asset by improving travel facilities
Much hype is created these days with respect to the arrival of visitors from overseas to Sri Lanka, a country seen as paradise by many visitors.
However, have we geared ourselves to meet the growing need of travel for visitors as well as locals who wish to explore the natural beauty of the country? The modes of transport available are bicycles, motorcycles, three-wheelers, cars, buses, trains and air transport. Travel within the country is a slow process in Colombo, outside Colombo, leave alone to the places of interest. The travel speed within the country is less than 30 km/hour.
The travel time to Kandy is around four hours, to Anuradhapura five –six hours, to the East seven-eight hours, the exception being Galle / Matara due to the availability of an expressway. But reaching the expressway entrance at Kottawa, Panadura, Kaduwela, Kadawatha from Colombo can take 30 – 40 minutes.
There are many under-utilized airfields within the country controlled by the Air Force. Only a few are used for commercial purposes such as Ratmalana, Jaffna, Trincomalee, just to name three. The rest are well maintained by the Air Force but under-utilized for domestic passenger air travel.
If the Government and Tourism Ministry are interested in developing facilities for visitors who waste a lot of time on the road at great risk to life and limb, economical domestic air transport must be encouraged.
There are airfields in the following areas which were developed by the British such as Minneriya, Sigiriya, Iranamadu, Vavuniya, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Ampara, Hambantota, Weerawila, Koggala, Katukurunda – a total of 11 under-utilised domestic airports within the country. The Air Force itself can start a domestic air service and earn additional revenue to maintain the airfields.
There are also many inland lakes where amphibious aircraft can be used. Kandy, Nuwara Eliya can be serviced by amphibious aircraft. There is no need to build expensive airports as ventured out a few years back. Maldives runs the most profitable, efficient and largest amphibious aircraft fleet, of course outsourced to carriers.
In order to be competitive, a Domestic Open Air Policy must be implemented. There are many private sector air transport companies in operation. They must be encouraged to have a daily shuttle service at competitive fares. The current air charges for domestic flights are exorbitant thus discouraging domestic air travel. If domestic air transport is available end-to-end travel time can be reduced from the current 4 – 8 hrs to under one hour. An Air Ambulance Service too can be started if necessary from all parts of the country. The private sector and Air Force operate a Helicopter Service but again, the rates per hour are exorbitant and not attractive for Domestic Tourist Transport.
Tourism can be one of the greatest assets in the country. On that note, infrastructure and rest room facilities at tourist attractions too need to be improved.
Tissa Jayaweera Via email
Executions not the answer to tackle drug menace
There have been mixed reactions to the news that Sri Lanka will again carry out executions of those sentenced to death, in particular situations / circumstances.
Are we serious when we say this?
We have not removed this punishment from our statute books, but for very good reasons we have not carried out this punishment now for many years. We are in that group of civilized nations which do not take the life of any of its citizens as a punishment. Are we now considering going back to those days when we took the lives of those sentenced to death?
We boast of being a country where all the major religions of the world are practised. What right do we have to take the life of one of our own citizens, however grave the crime. Such action is against the teachings of all our religions. These individuals will ultimately pay for these crimes, in hell or in their next birth, but we have no right to take their lives.
There was a report that the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, had also commended the decision of President Sirisena to execute drug dealers sentenced to death. I hope our President will not take too much notice of the commendations of the President of the Philippines.
When the decision was taken many years ago not to execute those sentenced to death, the decision was based on the fact that nowhere in the world had murders reduced by punishing those committing such crimes, with execution. While some may maintain that such convicts deserve death, there have been instances when innocents have also been executed. Such miscarriage of justice can never be redressed. These facts, were among those that led to the decision not to carry out the death penalty.
The discussion today, is largely centred around those sentenced to death for drug offences. The same reasons for not executing those convicted of such offences, I believe still hold. Will executions reduce these crimes? Aren’t there possibilities of innocents being executed on fabricated evidence? If we take our religions seriously can we carry out executions?
We need to clean up the Prisons Department, for without the collaboration and assistance of senior Prisons Department officials, these convicted drug offenders cannot continue their criminal activities. Are not the police responsible for bringing the ‘small fry’ in this trade to justice, while the big time traders, among whom are indeed many politicians, remain free? Should the government not put these right? A major clean up is necessary.
Eksith Fernando Dehiwela
Quality assurance for our parliamentarians, the need of the hour
I was aghast at the recent visuals and their phonic recordings of proceedings at the so called ‘supreme body’, as would have been my fellow citizens.
The frequent citing of shortcomings; be it a road or a dilapidated bridge or an irregularity that provoke people to come out on to the road to protest are daily events, highlighted via TV news editions. The tax payer doles out salaries, perks, vehicles and even pensions to the worthies who inhabit parliament and Pradeshiya Sabhas. What may I ask is the return on the investment? Have these elected members discussed or sought to rectify these shortcomings, so highlighted at a local level before they are brought to the notice of the public?
When a policy of quality assurance is being mooted and implemented in many institutions of the government, should it not be foisted too on all elected ‘servants of the people’?
Shortcomings highlighted by media organisation; the elected representative of the people of that area must be brought to book and the details audited by the Speaker of Parliament. Not going to the electorate, not listening to the people etc are serious issues. A separate institution under the Speaker could record people’s complaints regarding their representatives at all levels. Defaulters brought to the notice of the public, so that justice can be meted out at the next election or salaries withheld based on the frequency and the gravity of highlighted shortcomings.
Should not the quality of verbal contributions at parliamentary proceedings, too be assessed? I notice that in many instances, inadequately researched statements are made, fake news parroted frequently can mislead the public . Such utterances I observe are often politically motivated and should have an inbuilt deterrence. They have no bearing on the development of this country, we all love. Quality assurance, I reiterate, is the need of the hour.
Dr Channa Ratnatunga Kandy