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Co-hosts SriLankan Airlines walked away from its own gala dinner in Berlin leaving Sri Lankan hoteliers and tour operators — and our Ambassador to Germany — attending the occasion squirming with embarrassment.
The formal dinner hosted jointly by SriLankan Airlines and the Tourist Board was part of the tourism promotion events paid for by the government at the world famous ITB festival.
The dinner was held at the Berlin Dorint Schweizwehof (the former Intercontinental) for tour operators, airlines, hoteliers and government officials.
No formal reason has so far been given for the walk-out by the entire SriLankan Airlines contingent present at the dinner co-hosted by them. This included the two air hostesses who were helping at the fair stalls. One of the reasons attributed to the walk-out of their own show was a remark made by Tourism Ministry Secretary Dr. P. Ramanujam that the Sri Lanka government will get some other airline to fly from Frankfurt, Germany's number one destination catering to the Sri Lanka market, if SriLankan Airlines does not oblige.
The most awkward part came when Ambassador N. Cassie Chetty was called to give an award to SriLankan Airlines, the hosts.
The ambassador was left holding the award while the guests applauded and the hosts had gone home.
Moves to form a peoples' health assembly in Sri Lanka on the lines of the assembly in Bangladesh took a significant step forward when about 10 patients' rights groups held their inaugural meeting at the Sarvodaya Centre in Borella.
A spokesperson said the proposed peoples' health assembly would work towards bringing about more public awareness on the need for the effective implementation of a national health policy and a peoples' health charter.
The welfare and well-being of the patient would form the centerpiece of this national policy and charter, in contrast to the present system, where doctors are getting rich and drug companies richer at the expense of the poor patient.
The Sarvodaya Movement, the Cedec, the Janodaya and Jana Awabodaya movement, the Action Committee on Justice for Patients and consumer action groups were represented at the meeting. A follow up meeting is to be held on April 25 and more groups are been invited to attend with a view to working out a national strategy at three levels — the grassroots, among the professionals and among the political decision makers.
The spokesman said that especially with the onset of the market economy, the western medical system was playing too much of a domineering if not dictatorial role in health care and medical services. He said there was an urgent need to remedy this situation by giving a bigger national role to indigenous medical services such as Ayurveda.
Earlier this month the Sri Lanka Medical Association also pledged support for moves to restore the rights of patients in health care and medical services. One of the goals is to provide safe and effective medicinal drugs under generic or cost effective brand names.
Handicapped CMC unable to act against dirty food
By Faraza Farook
One in four samples collected by food inspectors during recent night raids on food outlets in Colombo has been contaminated with faecal matter, but the CMC is unable to take follow up action due to lack of personnel and laboratory facilities, a top official said.
Chief Medical Officer Pradeep Kariyawasam said that more than 32 food samples from eating houses and food vans were collected and they found eight samples contaminated with faecal matter.
He said they also detected cancer-causing agents in some of the 65 oil samples collected in another raid. Of some of the Galle Road food outlets raided, the inspectors found all but one conformed to health standards.
Dr. Kariyawasam said though detections were made, the Public Health Department was unable to take action because they had to wait for a long time till the reports of the samples sent for test at the Health Ministry's Medical Research Institute arrived.
He said the department lacked a proper laboratory and was also short of qualified personnel with more than 30 positions for food inspectors public health inspectors still vacant.
From our Jaffna Correspondent
The familiarisation tour of Jaffna last week by diplomats of 30 countries was for the purpose of making an assessment of the prevailing situation in that part of the country.
Heads of diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka and the IMF representative were accompanied by Minister of Rehabilitation and Resettlement Dr. Jayalath Jaye-wardene and Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando in a short familiarization tour which spanned only seven hours.
Though several places were visited, people with grievances had little time to explain their plight to the diplomats.
Communication problems were also a barrier in some instances with no person available to translate.
The KKS harbour, the Jaffna public library, the Jaffna Teaching Hospital and Point Pedro jetty were some of the places visited by the diplomats.
Some time was also spent by them at the Saba-pathypillai welfare centre in Uduvil listening to the grievances of refugees.
Jaffna Mayor Sellan Kandiah and the Municipal Commissioner were assured by the ministers that funds would be available to complete the rebuilding of the public library.
However, the mayor was unable to explain to the visiting diplomats several other issues that needed to be addressed as he was conversant only in Tamil.
The diplomats turned down an invitation by the Acting Director of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital to take part in a discussion due to lack of time.
After lunch at the Jaffna District Secretariat, the diplomats attended a short meeting at which the GA, heads of departments and representatives of both local and foreign NGOs were present.
At Chavakachcheri the visiting delegates were briefed on the grievances of the people living in Thenamarachchi by MP N. Raviraj.
The tour ended with a visit to the Point Pedro jetty after which the diplomats left for Palaly to take plane to Colombo.
Dr. Maithrie M. Rajapakse, Acting Director, General Hospital Kandy responding to an article in The Sunday Times of March 3 on the appointment of a second Neurosurgeon to General Hospital Kandy has sent the following reply.
"The statistics and information given in these articles were incorrect. The consultant staff of the Kandy hospital is disturbed because of the damaging effect of this on the hospital.
"The director of the hospital along with the consultant staff has taken steps to correct these facts. The statistics that appeared in The Sunday Time were as follows:-
1.Number of days the operation theatre remained closed were 87 out of 250 working days.
2. Number of patients transferred to National Hospital was 222 during the same period whilst the number of admissions to this unit has been 1840.
1. The correct figures and statistics worked out of the hospital records are published below.
Period no.of admissions no.of transfers to N.S.U Colombo
1/1/2000-31/12/2001 1941 20 (103%)
1/1/2001-31/12/2001 2114 50 (16 + *34) - (2.4%)
1/1/2002-28/2/2002 401 0
(*Of the 50 patients transferred to Colombo in year 2001, 34 patients were transferred due to the fact that the CT Scanner was out-of-order from 2nd April to 5th June 2001.)
2. Number of days that surgeries were performed :-
Period working days including Sundays Saturdays
1/1/2000-31/12/2000 309 22
1/1/2001-31/12/2001 299 33
3. Number of Surgeries performed:-
Period No. of Surgeries
1/1/2000-31/1/2000 1279
1/1/2001-31/12/2001 *1163
(*Please note that the number of surgeries performed in 2001 was slightly lesser due to the CT Scanner being out-of-order from 2nd April to June 2001.)
"In the same article it was mentioned that poorly qualified people operate without supervision but we are not aware of the poorly qualified people doing any surgeries in this hospital. All the doctors who operate are well trained and work under the supervision of a Consultant Surgeon.
"The three operating theatres and the wards referred to in the article are the newly built Cardiology Unit and for Cardiac and thoracic surgery, which would function soon with the arrival of a Cardiothoracic Surgeon.
The Sunday Times says:
1.The Sunday Times article referred to statistics during the period 1 June 2000 to 31 May 2001 and not from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2000 and 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001.
2. The number of patients transferred to Colombo was from 1 June 2000 to 31 May 2001 and the article referred to transfers made by both the Kandy and the Peradeniya hospitals and not Kandy alone as mistaken by Dr. Maithrie Rajapakse.
The reference to poorly qualified staff was made to MMBS doctors who performed operations without the supervision of a Consultant Surgeon.
What The Sunday Times said was the three operating theatres were not being put into use.
The Acting Director says the three operating theatres and the wards would function "soon" with the arrival of a Cardiothoracic Surgeon. But The Sunday Times learns that the Cardiothoracic Surgeon is expected only in February next year.
While more and more cases of child exploitation and abuse continue to surface and several laws have been amended and new laws introduced in order to close the loop holes in the legal system, implementation of them has been poor.
Lack of skills is one of the reasons that bar the effective implementation of laws, National Child Protection Authority Chairman Prof. Harendra de Silva said last Tuesday. Some laws, though they have been passed, have not been implemented, he said.
According to Prof. de Silva, laws alone were not adequate to solve the problem. Several areas addressing the problem of child abuse and exploitation have to be strengthened further starting at grass root levels.
In Sri Lanka, laws relating to pornography have been very weak with the maximum penalty for selling pornographic material being only a mere Rs. 2500. "The fine is usually paid by the person behind the trade and the business continues," he said.
By Nilika de Silva
Transport networks of state and private buses are setting their sights on getting the passengers to Jaffna at the most cost effective price, since air transport costs in the region of Rs. 6,000 and sea transport Rs. 2,000.
State Transport Minister Upali Piyasoma told The Sunday Times ten buses would set off from the Independence Square on April 4. The tickets would be priced around Rs. 200, he said. Minister Piyasoma said 50 buses were being made available to the district for use in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaitivu and Mannar.
He said spare parts worth Rs. 10 million had been sent to the peninsula to ease the transport problem. An airconditioned bus service would begin between Jaffna and Colombo, Sri Lanka Central Transport Board Operations Manager W. H. Gunathilake said. The ten airconditioned buses would charge about Rs. 600 one way. The buses would operate from the Central Bus Stand in Pettah, he said.
Meanwhile, Lanka Private Bus Owners Association president Gemunu Wijeratne told The Sunday Times route permits were being issued by the government to ten buses. Minister Piyasoma said private buses would be issued with route permits.
Mr. Wijeratne said private buses would charge about Rs. 400 for a luxury bus ride. He said semi-luxury buses would charge about Rs. 300. He said one bus would be available for the monitoring mission and another two buses for the use of the media. The trip would start at 6 a.m. and reach Kilinochchi by 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. If permission was granted the buses would set off next morning for Jaffna.
Mr. Wijeratne said the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association representatives would speak to the ICRC on April 2 to work out the technicalities. He said the Memorandum of Understanding had facilitated the transport of passengers and goods.
Meanwhile, rail transport was also being looked at to ease the economic burden on the passengers. However, the non-availability of tracks was a major problem, ministry sources said.
State Transport Minister told The Sunday Times that the Welikanda Valachchenai stretch of the track had been built at a cost of Rs. 160 million. The remaining construction work on the track would cost billions of rupees.
The Medawachchiya-Thalaimannar stretch would cost 1.8 billion while the Vavuniya-Kankesanturai stretch would cost around Rs. 2 billion and the Valachchenai-Batticaloa stretch another Rs. 200 million, he said.
However, a special train was setting off from Colombo to reach Vavuniya on April 8 morning enabling passengers to join the others at the starting point to travel to Jaffna with the peace convoy.
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