A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Friday, March 31, 2017
Prohibiting Inhuman Strikes By Doctors & Ungrateful Students
By Asoka N.I. Ekanayaka –March 29, 2017
The latest despicable threat by the GMOA to
reportedly launch the “biggest strike ever in the country’s history”
represents a crude piece of trade union megalomania. It is tantamount to
a kind of “medical thuggary” that is a disgrace to the medical
profession. In our day and age doctors (prosperous members of a once
noble profession) and University students (unashamed young dependents on
public charity ) have become strange bedfellows in launching disruptive
“strikes” that cause enormous suffering and inconvenience to the
public. The fact that doctors (by virtue of professional obligation) owe
a debt of service to the millions who are sick and dying, and students
(by virtue of their neediness) a debt of gratitude to the millions who
pay for their education – only underline the absurdity of such strikes.
Unfortunately Sri Lankans seem to have an amazing capacity to bow their
heads and humbly endure such abuses however wicked and irrational by
such groups who in pursuance of their selfish vested interests,
particular ideological hang up, or political agenda don’t give a damn
for the public interest. One wonders whether deeply embedded in the
psyche of the Sri Lankan masses is a primeval fatalism brought on by
belief in Karma that makes them resigned to exploitation, on the basis
that since bad things happen because they were destined to happen anyway
there is nothing anyone can do about it. Otherwise one would expect
that by now millions of people in this country fed to the teeth by their
striking tormentors, would be crying “enough is enough” and calling for
government action to in one way or another prohibit the scandal of
strikes by doctors and students.
Indeed from the perspective of governance It is now clear that strikes
by predatory doctors and university students have become a serious
impediment to good governance, desirable reforms and the enforcement of
order and discipline in the health and higher education sectors.
Doctors have repeatedly shown a diabolical tendency to use draconian
trade union power in pursuance of a selfish agenda demanding unrealistic
perks and privileges, while intimidating the government and interfering
in matters of state policy that are completely outside their remit.
Their protests over SAITM, ETCA,
budget proposals etc. are recent examples of such arrogant abuse of
power. The extraordinary power wielded by doctors enabling them to force
the hand of governments to act against the public interest, derives
from their freedom to strike at will and hold the public to ransom. The
terrible hardships inflicted on the sick and suffering by striking
doctors (with the possibility of patients dying due to direct or
indirect medical neglect) inevitably puts intolerable pressure on
governments to compromise principle and concede to doctors on any terms
so as not to prolong public agony. That puts doctors in a winning
position against the rest of society every time, however unjustified
their cause.
For the GMOA to cynically claim that their strikes are for the ultimate
good of the public whom they consciously penalize is sheer arrogance and
adds insult to injury. For anyone to imply that the sick and dying
might willingly accept the denial of treatment because they too support
the doctor’s cause – is the height of lunacy. Most people (especially
the sick) in this country don’t care a hoot about SAITM. Indeed they
would’nt even know what those letters stand for ! Patients are neither
masochists nor martyrs that they should be happy to endure yet more pain
and suffering in support of the selfish agenda of doctors. Such
fantasies reflect the self righteous blindness of the medical
establishment and how out of touch with reality many doctors have become
in our society !
Nor should anyone be deluded by the glib reassurance of doctors that
their strikes will not imperil the lives of patients because as a
generous concession to the great Hippocrates and out of lofty compassion
for the toiling masses they have condescended to maintain essential
services in ICU, emergency, and paediatric units. The truth is that the
actual number of people who die, suffer some complication, or whose
health is in some way compromised directly or indirectly as a result of a
doctor’s strike is an imponderable that is incapable of statistical
documentation. For example we will never know the number of people who
having developed some sinister symptom at home died, suffered some
complication, or whose eventual recovery was compromised because they
were put off from promptly going to hospital by the knowledge that
doctors were on strikes and fear that services might be restricted.
In the case of university students their ability to strike and boycott
classes with impunity makes it impossible to effect necessary policy
changes in higher education and maintain campus discipline. The
punishment of students for grave offenses like the torture of new
entrants (ragging),
invariably provokes disruptive strikes instigated by aggressive
militant student unions. Such strikes bring academic programs to a
standstill intimidating university authorities into backing down so as
to restore normalcy whatever the sacrifice of principle. Furthermore the
power of students instigated by politically oriented student unions to
retaliate with strikes paralyzing academic programmes across the
universities, seriously limits the ability of governments to institute
enlightened reforms in the higher education sector.
Alongside the above considerations there is the abomination of ugly
posters and placards that pollute hospital premises when doctors are on
strike in contempt of the rights of worried patients to a tranquil non
confrontational hospital environment. Nor must we forget the chaos and
disruption resulting from rowdy street demonstrations and public
meetings that accompany strikes by doctors and university students, with
rioting mayhem and traffic blocks on public roads causing severe
inconvenience to the general public
For the foregoing reasons there is a strong case for action to prohibit
strikes by doctors (and possibly other hospital workers) as well as
university students. Apart from pragmatic considerations there is a
strong intellectual and philosophical justification for such an
initiative based on some important principles.
In the case of doctors the prevention and treatment of disease is a life
and death issue. As a vocation the practice of medicine is dominantly a
life and death concern. In this respect the medical profession stands
alongside those in the police, armed services, and fire services who
traditionally do not resort to strike action in a civilized society,
because to do so would jeopardize the lives of people. If at all doctors
have a greater and more immediate impact on life and death in the
community.