The crisis of the Medical education and Sri Lankan Health Sector -Migrant’s Column

(Lanka-e-News -24.Jan.2016, 9.30PM) The students of the faculty of medicine at Ragama and Karapitiya have started a strike and if I am correct they are heading for the hunger strike. I am not going to state the issue that triggered them for the strike. In fact there is no issue at all to justify the wild behavior of these students. My essay is directly address the prime minister, minister of health and the president of the Sri Lankan democratic state and any other relevant parties. By observing the developing trends, it can be seen that at the end these wild animals are going to win as it happened it in history. As a government, before you knee down in front of them, I urge you to reconsider the following facts in free mind. 

First, no country practice the so called free education like in Sri Lanka. In fact this is the time for the government to calculate the total expenditure invest on each university student particularly to rascal medical students and returned for the country. As we all may know, the government spend more than seven to eight million dollar for the each medical student. When they leave the medical faculty their job is guaranteed with reasonable salary and some other facilities including the vehicle. On top of that they are allowed to do private practice. I ask you to turn your attention to some other fact now. Have the government ever evaluated how many doctors have completed their service in remote areas and how frequently they have been transferred through the hospital. When they transfer for remote services how many of them cancel their transfer with political influence. Does the government have mechanism to oversee their working behavior and rectify when it is not accorded with the requirement. Have government ever conducted and evaluation about their income and assure that they repay the taxes? Does government know that doctors are the only professional category that have a certain quota and expenditure to provide the postgraduate training in European countries? Not even sri Lankan academics in arts and humanities have such foreign training under the government fund? How many of them have completed the training and how many of them returned to the country? What is the financial benefit of that traing to the Sri Lankan government? How much money government loose each year for the vehicle permit each year.  Finally, after having so many expenses by the public funds received from the innocent farmers and labourers of the country, how many of them migrate to countries like Australia and Canada? Once they migrate how the government loose by the each migrant and does government have mechanism to collect that money back.  How much money do we loose to foreign country for the medical education due to the lack of the facility in Sri Lanka to provide the medical education for other students. In contrast, how much money does the private medical schools save for the country? The list can be extended into several pages. The answer would be indeed unsatisfactory.

Second, in returned, have government ever evaluated and maintain the record of professional malpractices by the doctors. The writer engaged in a research project with the professor at a university in United Kingdom and we were looking at the issue of medical negligence in given time frame. If the people had read the report they will not believe in the uncertainty of their life encountering a doctor. Given the certain period of time, we could collect the evidence of more than hundred plus cases which was only reported in the news paper. Those are reported and unreported case may be more than that. To give you some hint, there were cases such as amputing the wrong leg or removing the wrong body parts, completing the operation leaving some tool such as scissors inside the body. In addition, you may have heard that sexual abuses against the pregnant mothers, girls and even for their labourers. How many times have we lost the hundred of lives due to their strikes for petty issues such as car permit?  Now my question is that either the so-called selfish medical council or the government of Sri lanka has ever taken an action against these issues? If not why?  No need to be ashamed, please spell out. The government is afraid of this rascal. Why my problem is the government have no mechanism to over see and control the so-called rascal.  But does it mean that we should waste our public funds on these heartless people and be victim of them. Government should have mechanism to protect the people from these types of rascal. If the government has no mechanism I would like to propose a kind of strategic suggestions and government can implement this without due course.  Most of these suggestions can be implemented for the forthcoming students to the medical faculty and will be practices in five years. Government will not have to worry about the existing doctors since our politics is limited only to our own benefit and does not bother about others.

In addition, these rascals are interfering to the development of alternative Sri Lankan medical practices. For example, do you know that these are the people who are opposing to the establishment of department of surgery at the faculty of Aurvedic medicine in university of Colombo? Simply who are these people to decide the appropriation of medical knowledge? Don’t these idiots know that western medicine is only a one tradition? How they gained so much power to control the knowledge of medical practices in the country? These are the critical questions government can address.  

* When the students admit to the medical faculty present a code of conduct and get the signature. Violation of one or more can be considered as criminal offense.. The agreement can include the following conditions.
* No medical student can involve with any ragging or ragging related issues which may result to loose the studentship (This can be useful to other university students as well)
* No medical faculty students can organize strikes that violate the rights of the genral public.
* The students who are leaving the faculty would not be guaranteed the job.
* All the students who are completing their studies must perform their service in remote are for five years and each ten year must return to the work in remote areas.
* If the newly appointed doctor wish to leave the country he or she should pay the cost of medical studies to the government (this can be arranged to pay in installment)
* All the newly recruited doctors will not entitle to vehicle permit. Instead government can give them a loan that settle with zero interest or lower interest (thus the government will not loose any money). This can be applied to the other professions those who entitle the vehicle permit (remember the writer itself is a senior lecture at Sri Lankan University system)

Apart from that government can set up a commission to investigate the malpractices of doctors and health related sectors. The commission should have a full power to investigate any matter related to the medical malpractices and command for the necessary bodies to take action against if proven. People of the country should have direct access to the commission and should have an ability to monitor the process

The government should encourage establishing more private medical schools under the government investment schemes and proliferate doctors across the country which may destroy the power of  the filed of medical field. I believe in that, when we see the plethora of doctors setting up their dispensaries under the trees like lawyers, there will not be any issue and everybody will compete to treat their patient like human beings. 

now this the time for the ministry of finance and the responsible department including the department bribery and corruption come to work together.  Do not forget the doctors now are the students who have been picketing and going through hunger strike last two decades. Government must come to the firm decision now. The so-called free education is not indeed free. It is the wealth of the nation. It is the wealth of the nation that has to be spent on so many other important issues including the transport and infrastructural development. Therefore, we urge the government, do not knee down in fro of this rascal. Let them to die in hunger if they wish because it is a social service indeed. If the government has no mechanism to stop these rascals, let them to die as they wish. Dear Mr. President, Mr Prime Minister and minister of health, do not let happen to the Malbae Medical school which was happen to Ragama some years ago. 

By a Migrant Intellectual. 

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by     (2016-01-24 20:09:57)