If a man is left to suffer in pain of helplessness for a few years without a device to remedy he is no doubt enslaved.
Constitution makers in democratic societies have always tried to avoid this situation. But when it is discovered that such obnoxious aspects have crept in they must be speedily corrected.
To have a political office of President the incumbent of which is immune from criminal law and civil law, could sue but not be sued, could pardon any one guilty of crime including murder, and appoint any one including them to any office including judges, it is not an erosion of democracy.
Also our Constitution provides the citizens to choose representatives of parliament on their behalf with the built in safety device for removing them in the event they act against their declared policy to the electors.
It has also been built into the Constitutions, ways of removing the President. But this has proved ineffective as was seen during the tenure of the late President R. Premadasa. This is caused due to two reasons, insufficiency of the effectiveness of the Constitution in this regard, and the unbridled power the President may have over the political party in power. He controls the country and he controls the Party. Anyone for the mere thought of removal of a President could get removed and to doldrums first.
There may be no fear of damage done by the present incumbent, but that is no consolation. Living in enslavement is not conducive for people to think of referendums.
The required amendments could easily be made, for ten MPs to initiate a motion, for the parliament to entertain it with 1/3 voting for by secret ballot: to discuss and go through only if there is a 2/3 or 3/5 voting for by secret ballot, additionally deny the president to hold any executive power in a recognised political party.
It is the duty of the elected representatives on both sides to first remove identified enslavement situations first as an interim measure without waiting for new constitutions, abolitions, and devolutions.
I took my 10-year-old daughter to our family doctor in Panadura as she was suffering from a wheeze. The doctor who checked the child gave her some pills and advised us to get her admitted to a hospital immediately. We rushed to the Panadura hospital to admit the child. We were directed to a place where out patients are checked by doctors. There was no one there at that time and we waited loitering up and down the corridor until such time that a girl asked us as to why we were there.
We told her that we came with a patient. Then she said that the patient would be checked only if she was to be admitted to the hospital. We told her that we were directed to the hospital by a doctor with a letter advising her immediate admission to a hospital.. Then she came out with a stethoscope revealing her identity as the doctor in charge of the OPD.
Dear Minister of Health, can you tell us who decides whether a patient should be admitted to the hospital or not: is it the doctor or the parents. However, on checking the patient we were directed to ward No. 5, said to be the children's ward. There we handed the note to the lady who was seated there in the Ward No. 5 whom we thought to be the doctor in charge of the ward.
But, without even having a glance at that note we were asked to give it to the nurse. We happened to waste another 30 minutes there in the ward before a nurse appeared, without any medical attention to the sick child whose immediate admission to a hospital was ordered by a qualified medical practitioner.
By this time we were totally disappointed by the dirty, stinking state of the ward which seemed an insult to the very concept of a children's ward. We were afraid that if we admitted our sick child there in that ward with disease carrying flies in very large numbers she could really be exposed to undiagnosable diseases and left the hospital with the sick child without any treatment but mere waste of valuable time.
The doctor who checked the child on admission to the hospital or the doctor who received the child at Ward No. 5 did not care a fig for the letter issued by the family doctor. We cannot understand the rationale behind their refusal to read the doctor's letter but their behaviour implied that they were either scared or unable to understand what was written there.
Dear Minister, this is the sordid style of those who became doctors with the help of free education and public funds. What we feel is that they are suffering from some sort of hard to cure, inferiority complex, which constitutes a medical negligence if not cured. When the medical student Thrima Vithana was killed, the interest in human rights shown by the medical undergraduates has vanished when they became doctors and they are fighting against the reality of their being educated by general public funds and free education.
Dear Minister, proper ministry supervision is needed to correct them and it is more appropriate to take to task the doctors who refuse to sign the attendance register but not ashamed to get salary paid through public funds called tax payers money.
Dear Minister, I wish you all success in your endeavours on behalf of poor patients in this country.
Recently there were several news items on Rupavahini regarding motor bus accident in which a university undergraduate at the Kelaniya campus and a schoolboy in Kandy were run down and killed. This provoked the students to set fire to the buses and in one instance, to forcibly construct a road-hump across the road.
The officer-in-charge of the Peliyagoda Police who was interviewed by a reporter appeared to be indignant about the whole affair and said that steps will be taken to remove all road-humps on the highways.
While no law-abiding citizen would condone the high-handedness of the students in taking the law into their own hands, it is another matter to remove all road humps which serve a useful purpose. One has only to observe the recklessness of bus and coach drivers, especially near schools and campuses to understand why this form of compulsory speed-check can help to save many lives. Even, if this results in a slow-down of traffic for a few seconds, isn't it better than allowing speed-fiends to kill innocent young people? Removing road-humps will only encourage more rash driving and risking more human lives.
Personally, I think that road-humps should be constructed opposite schools and other educational institutions where children cross the roads regularly. This, I have observed is the best way of checking speed-fiends. Even the presence of a police officer does not seem to check some of these licensed murderers. Police officers look on helplessly while the buses speed away. It is due to this reason that I believe that at least some physical obstruction would be helpful to save innocent lives. The guardians of the law should realize this.
Can a dead person be of service and be useful to the society he or she has lived in! yes, if his relatives,friends and well wishers will assist him to do so.They could do so by handing over the corpse as early as possible ( within 12 hours) to the tissues bank for them to remove and preserve,vital body parts such as eyes,kidneys etc. to be used later on, on needy human beings.This will help them to extend their life span or to live a happier and fuller life. lf the remains, after the extraction of parts are handed over to the Medical College,the students,who learn about the composition of the human body, by opening up the corpse, will later on remedy and heal the sick and the wounded,which again is a yoeman service to mankind. This will also help in accumulating a lot of merit,for the dead and living who helps in this noble service.
Expenses towards a showy and grand funeral,saved this way could be used in helping the needy poor which again is a meritorious act.
Is the present procedure of embalming and keeping the corpse at the residence for a number of days,until all relatives and friends gather together meaningful? Why should we grieve over a dead body and pay respect when we have not been considerate about his or her welfare when the particular person was living or when we have had no respect for the person.lt is not done for the glorification of the living. Is the suffering of the people in the household and others face during this period worth and meaningful?.
It is time for us to consider these matters seriously and honestly than to trod on the traditional path.
More letters to the editor -Dairy development in Sri Lanka *Going against God * Punish those road hogs
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