Letters to the Editor
View(s):Let’s work towards a mature democracy in Sri Lanka
Given this scenario, the voter or the tax payer should enjoy the prerogative of laying down the eligibility criteria for the candidates they want to hire as their representatives as in the case of any other employer. The contesting political parties shall act as ‘manpower’ agencies who should prepare ‘Districtwise merit lists of political professionals’ for nomination at elections. Such lists approved by the Elections Department on the nomination date will be available for their principals, who will make a general assessment of the quality of the teams in addition to the party election manifesto when they vote for the party of their choice.
Towards meeting this objective, we call upon the Elections Commission to deliver on peoples’ expectations by laying down stringent eligibility criteria and selection procedure for the candidates applying for the posts of peoples’ representatives. The political parties would then be compelled to comply by the rule of law.
No doubt, all the legal impediments have to be removed by the concerned authorities to meet this long outstanding expectation of the voters. Looking for examples in other countries which operate in different political environments is an exercise in futility.
We are confident that all civil organisations including PAFFREL and CAFFE will work towards achieving this much needed requirement for a mature democracy in Sri Lanka.
Bernard Fernando Moratuwa
A solely subjective view on the death penalty
Prof. Ravindra Fernando in an article in the Sunday Times (August 5), makes some highly dogmatic pronouncements regarding the death penalty - (“The debate for or against the death penalty should not be opened, it should never open”). He seems to insult the intelligence of all who disagree with his subjective (and often inaccurate) views. In his article, he presents his subjective opinions as though they were foregone conclusions.
Prof. Fernando confidently states that “the death penalty does not have a deterrent value…Nowhere has the death penalty been shown to deter crime”. He implies that it is only countries with disregard for human rights, that carry out the death penalty, by listing Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan while claiming that they carried out the most executions.
How does he explain the fact that Japan and Singapore and the United States (which can scarcely be called backward countries) retain the death penalty and both Japan and Singapore have extremely low levels of violent murder?
Prof. Fernando needs to update some of his information: only about a month ago , Japan executed seven murderers, the leader and followers of the Aum Shinrikyo Cult, and during the same week, India’s Supreme Court confirmed the death by hanging for the men convicted of the savage rape and murder of a medical student in 2012. Singapore hanged eight people in 2017, according to the Amnesty International website. The notion that “backward” countries retain the death penalty is false.
The Professor makes certain contradictory conclusions. For example he says that “History shows that in Sri Lanka over a long period of time repugnance of the death penalty has been felt…” but on the contrary, it has existed from the times of Sinhalese Kings. He also mentions the attempts by the Legislative Council as early as 1928, to abolish the death penalty, acknowledging that “All these attempts failed”. So where was the repugnance towards the death penalty ?
Another false argument, repeated by Prof Fernando, is that innocent persons may be executed as has happened in the past. He cites an execution which occurred in 1950, in England. Today, scientific advances such as DNA testing and advanced pathological tests can be used to establish a person’s identity with 100% certainty. Further, strong legal safeguards can be introduced to prevent mistakes.
The death penalty must never be used to assassinate political prisoners, as happens in Saudi Arabia. In fact it could reasonably be limited to the execution of those who commit the rape and murder of children. In Sri Lanka there has been a spate of such murders recently.
“I am certain that President Sirisena would not execute anybody”, concludes Prof. Fernando, (despite the recent pronouncements to the contrary by the President himself). The Professor is absolutely correct- because the Sirisena- Wickremasinghe government has introduced this debate as a distraction from the urgent unsolved issues facing the country.
JAYMAN Via email
The oft repeated refrain-no holistic approach in patient care
Dr. Ruvaiz Haniffa, in his presidential address at the recently held SLMA conference (as reported in a daily newspaper) bemoans the fact that the holistic approach is lacking in patient care. That is, we fail to consider the patient as a whole, focusing only on the patient’s current complaint.
To my thinking, this is an oft-repeated glib statement.
Let me broadly analyse the medical scene. 80% or more of our patients are treated in Government hospitals–those who require admission are admitted immediately to the relevant ward. The other category are clinic patients who often have to travel many miles, before arriving at the clinic usually between 2 a.m. 4 a.m., so that they are assured of “getting a number”. Exhausted by the time he/she gets to see a Doctor, all he/she wants is a “quick fix”. The Doctor whether it be in the ward or clinic is pressed for time, and can only deal with the ailment the patient presents with.
The more affluent patient consults a Doctor privately, the tendency is to go direct to specialists, who keep proliferating. Here too although time is the governing factor, more communication is possible. If like me, he/she sticks to the same Specialist, with time, a relationship develops, and the approach is inevitably holistic. Unfortunately, most patients tend to go from Doctor to Doctor.
The dearth of General Practioners, (now known as Family Physicians) despite the involvement of the PGIM in their training, is a glaring defect in our health system.
In the fairly distant past, the majority of paying patients would stick to one family Doctor, a General Practitioner. A few outstanding names from the past come to mind– from Kandy, Dr. Anthonisz, Dr. Wynne and Dr Nihal Karunaratne and from Colombo– Dr. Frank Gunasekera, Dr. A.D. P.A. Wijegoonewardene, Dr. Mirando, Dr. Muthumani and Dr. Hugh Jayasekera. The services of these doctors were available any time of the day or night. They maintained files on every patient, often extending to the second and third generation. Their relationship with the patient was so much more than the current Doctor-patient one.
Unfortunately, the great majority of “G.P’s” now are medical officers (non-specialists, who may have a diploma in family medicine) attached to government hospitals who see patients after working hours, usually over a fixed period. As such, there is no pride in building up a family practice, together with its connotations.
Perhaps the Ayurvedic Physcians have got it right. Irrespective of the patient’s complaint, a finger on the pulse, will reveal the entirety of the patient’s health status.
To him the ‘Veda’ (Treatment) and ‘Heda’ (general well-being) aspects are equally important.
Dr. P. Amerasinghe Retired Consultant
Why not levy a “kunu” tax?
Almost all of us pay a nominal ‘santhosam’ to the garbage collector to facilitate easy disposal of our garbage. I suggest that by imposing a tax for garbage collection, the Municipality can pay an extra allowance to these workers as incentives, thus discouraging them from accepting bribes.
Isn’t it better that we pay the government or rather the Municipal Council, a payment (which is acceptable and legal) than pay a bribe (which is despicable, illegal and a punishable offence), to the garbage collector. This is the way forward to eliminate bribery, that is, by increasing the payments made to the garbage handlers.
Over to the Inland Revenue Department to consider the above proposal to convert the bribe to “kunu” tax! This will also solve to some extent the garbage issue for the Mayor Rosie Senanayake.
It is also possible that the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) could be disbanded if we could eliminate bribery completely or if it can be at least reduced drastically.This will strength good governance in Sri Lanka and make our country a model for other countries.
Mohamed Zahran Colombo 3
Unequal concessions may force other professionals to take TU action
N. Gunawardane’s letter in the Sunday Times of August 5 blows the lid off the opinion citizen Perera has on the medical doctors as demi- gods.
Unfortunately, the large majority of our citizen Peraras are totally unaware that the medical doctors are only one link in the “chain” in the treatment process. It would be beneficial if the Sinhala / Tamil media carry similar articles. This should change the mindset that the medical doctors are demi-gods (or even gods ) and worshiped by most!
It is about time that technical professionals ( eg. Engineers) sound / warn the Government that any such concessions granted to medical doctors will force these professionals to take trade union action unless such concessions are also equally (or more) granted to them.
It need also be mentioned that during the 1940s and early 1955 era, the best brains went into the prestigious CCS (Ceylon Civil Service), and now the flow is towards all branches of Engineering and Medicine. The Government needs to be cautioned that any benefits (salary or any other) given to say the other services (like the off shoot of the CCS) should reflect on a higher scale to the Engineering and Medical services. Unfortunately we mostly work “back room” and do not rub shoulders with politicos and thereby the others score above us.
“Engineer” Via email
Thank you for the letter that reveals the ugly truth
A letter in the Sunday Times of August 5 titled, “Why do doctors think they are special creations?” by Dr.Nandanee Gunawardane, Ph.D. Engineer, is a masterpiece. With a vast amount of amazing down-to earth facts, she has hit the nail right on the head. She has done the needful on behalf of the thousands who are victimised and unable to voice their opinion. For this,the reading public owe their deepest gratitude to her.
In the days of yore,the Government Medical Officers’ Union (GMOA) was about the strongest Trade Union in the country. They too would have had their grievances,but by being more humane and gentlemanlike,they never attempted to show their strength by way of strikes holding the poor patients to ransom. But alas! Nowadays the GMOA seems to be going on strike “at the drop of a hat”as the 5th Column in your newspaper put it some time back.
Just a day or two before the last strike (August 3) one official of the GMOA said at a televised news conference that the people should know,whom they should elect as their representatives if these strikes are to be averted.Does this not mean that these strikes are politically motivated? After all who are doctors to advise people on such matters? On the contrary, the public, if given the chance,will definitely advise the membership of the GMOA whom they should NOT elect as their officials.
It may perhaps be unfair to point the finger at the general membership of the GMOA as most doctors have to abide by the rule of the majority. There could even have been external pressure on them which is not uncommon in these activities. Anyhow the saying goes that you cannot fool all the people all the time. Remember the Bible story that once a mighty Goliath terrorizing nations,was downed just by a pellet from the catapult of a boy David.
Neville A.Perera Battaramulla