12th September 1999

• Do away with cliches
• Go with the waves of peace
• MRI scanner will be a reality next year

Do away with cliches

The point is that Ven. Soma has used a cliche - a cliche gone stale through over-use and lost its meaning. In the second sentence itself he contradicts this cliche by saying, "This does not refer to the Buddhism practised by Buddhists in Sri Lanka today."If the people of Sri Lanka do not practise pure Theravada Buddhism, how can this be a country where pure Theravada Buddhism exists?

As a rare Thero who calls a spade a spade and one who stands for the truth whatever the organized clergy plot against him, I implore him to tell the people the uselessness of these cliches. I am deeply disturbed that he opened his article with one such.

Tissa de Abrew
Dodangoda

Go with the waves of peace

At the present juncture, she appears to be the only hope for peace. The vast majority of people do not doubt her sincerity to achieve peace, but the doubts are in the methods which have overtones of political expediency. Most of her rule has been spent trying to keep her alliance partners together, because she has only a single-vote majority, which the opposition is at every turn bent on upsetting. They cannot be blamed for that because every previous opposition too indulged in the same tactic. She has now put all her cards on the devolution package, but there is serious doubt whether this will bring about peace. Further, a large and powerful section of Sri Lankans are opposing it for various reasons. Prabhakaran too is opposed to it. Pushing the devolution package through, ignoring him, is akin to staging Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. Reality has to be accepted and faced. 

A little fire started in 1956; it could have been stamped out. But the politicians added fuel to it and today even the mighty rivers cannot douse it. This blessed country which nature has endowed with immense beauty and tranquillty, bereft of natural disasters has been plagued by artificial ones, created by selfish power hungry politicians and their greedy henchmen. 

In these circumstances is it worthwhile for the President to labour on the package or to find an alternative method to achieve peace. Nature and nature's laws have to be respected. Sri Lanka belongs to all who live in it, this is mine and that is yours are mere passing phases and changes. All warring factions have to accept this basic home truth. 

How can we envisage peace, with a civil war on, with brutal killings and assassinations, with thousands in refugee camps, with bombs frequently thrown around? With so many roads closed and so many road blocks and security checkpoints, with screaming ambulances and wagons of soldiers surrounding the politicians of this country. Added to this is a daily news commentary on the numbers killed, numbers maimed, numbers lost etc. The war atmosphere is all around us. 

There is one thing in common that the President, her Ministers, politicians and Prabhakaran endure-they have no peace of mind, they have lost their freedom, there is danger lurking all around them, they live in fear. That is the price they have to pay for craving for power. Thanhaya jayati soko, thanhaya jayati bhayam (Grief arises from craving; fear also does arise from craving) Dhammapada 216).

There is an alternative course of action and is entirely in the hands of the President. She and she alone has to take the decision. She has to put the country before self and party, she has to completely stop thinking in terms of winning elections. She has to use her personal charisma and dedication and make some sacrifice too. 

Her strength will flow from the millions of Sri Lankans crying, praying and meditating for peace. The powerful third force that is building up viz the voters who shunned the polling booth in recent times and others who wilfully cancelled their votes. The thoughts of all these groups centre around the President, who is the lawful authority to maintain law and order and establish peace. Those waves of peace are all around and the President has to get on to the correct wave length and then Arthur C Clarke's forecast can come true. 

S. Thambyrajah
Colombo 3.

MRI scanner will be a reality next year

The Department of Neurosurgery Trust, MRI Scanner Fund was launched on April 9, 1995 in the presence of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The occasion being the inauguration of the CT Scanner given as a gift by the Government of the Republic of Germany to the Department of Neurosurgery of the National Hospital Colombo. At the time of the launching of the fund, an MRI Scanner cost in the region of Rs. 60 million (1995). Awareness of the benefits that could be obtained by MRI scanning was lacking among the public.It was through a series of press releases and television programmes, with the active support of the media that we brought our message across the length and breadth of this country and motivated donations towards the fund. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at our request allocated half the cost of the scanner (Rs. 30 million) from the President's Fund. 

The MRI Scanner, we envisaged purchasing for our Department, was one suitable for all neurosurgical applications and therefore costing in the region of Rs. 60 million. Collection of funds continued over the years and people from all walks of life, institutions, organisations, Sri Lankan communities in foreign countries, helped us to come close to our target at the beginning of this month. Parallel to the collection of funds by the Trust, the Health Ministry was taking steps towards the purchase of a scanner of a more powerful version, capable of all applications covering all the disciplines of the hospital and naturally costing much more (around Rs. 100 million). The President also allocated a sizeable sum of money from her own fund towards this scanner too. 

Purchasing equipment, costing these large sums of money necessarily requires that the government tender procedures should be followed. Therefore, Technical Evaluation Committees were set up by the government to forward the technical data and two Cabinet appointed tender boards were also nominated for evaluation of tenders. Applications were called by worldwide tenders which closed recently. The Technical Evaluation Committees are now in the process of evaluating the submissions forwarded by prospective bidders. All this takes time and cannot be done in a haphazard manner. The minimum delay would be in the region of six to nine months from start to finish and may be another three months for delivery and commissioning of the machine. 

I will be failing in my duty if I do not express my unreserved thanks to the President for not only being mindful of the needs of the greater majority of our people, particularly the poorer classes but also for allocating sizeable amounts of her own fund towards the purchase of both scanners. 

When the Trust launched the fund in 1995 the cost of a scanner was Rs. 60 million (one suitable for all neuro applications). However, this has now escalated to Rs. 75 million. We, therefore, still have a shortfall of Rs. 15 million. 

As regards the maintenance of these sophisticated apparatus, we must not forget that it is dependent on the Central Government. Although we obtained a CT Scanner as an outright gift, maintenance has been carried out by the government and Rs. 2.5 million will be paid out for this purpose for six years since the date of commissioning. 

About 25,000 patients have been scanned on this machine and 300,000 CT scan slices have been carried out. Therefore, it is the government which is responsible for the provision of this service at tremendous cost. Similarly the maintenance of the new MRI Scanner once commissioned would cost the government Rs. 20 to 25 million for six years. 

Sri Lanka provides free health to every citizen. The health Budget takes a large slice of the national budget. The government and the Health Ministry has its priorities and obligations. It will not be possible for any government to allocate such a large sum of money towards the purchase of one piece of equipment for one department of one of its hospitals. However, through the benevolence of the President and the goodwill of the people, the dream of the neurosurgical patient would be fulfilled with the commissioning of an MRI Scanner in our department next year. 

Dr. Colvin Samarasinghe, 
Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon and Hony. Chairman,
Neurosurgery Trust Fund.

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