Ceylon Today Editorial

Act against CKDu before it’s too late

01 November 2016

The Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) has become one of the most prevalent diseases in the country, with patients being identified in over 12 districts. Although many a research material has been published and has made the limelight in public, it is rarely that the matter is given enough attention.

Recently, the Ministry of Health announced that the Chinese Government has promised to assist Sri Lanka to find reasons for the disease and its unknown aetiology in order to find a cure. This definitely is a welcome point in the matter as it is about time that our own government paid attention to serious research and development, which is something we lack as a country. If we are to become a developing country, that is taken seriously by other nations, research and development in any given field, especially medical, is a must. However, it is also a field where we lack in.

Sri Lanka is mostly dependent on outside research material. For example, for mental health research Sri Lanka obtains it mostly from the Indian National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences. Likewise, other research materials that are put to use (rarely) are from other countries.

It is not because we do not have our own researchers, scientists and scientific analysts. This is because we do not pay much attention to the contributions they make in form of scientific research. For example, as mentioned before, many papers have researched, analysed, dissected and thoroughly investigated into the origins of the chronic kidney disease that has run rampant in the country. Many a person has sought answers in order to find a cure for the disease. Yet, our authorities simply don't pay any attention to them.

When our local intelligence has proven more than capable in studying a disease, it is sad the government is being more and more dependent on other countries.

China is expected to assist Sri Lanka in determining the causes of the chronic kidney disease, find cures, develop the skills of health ministry officials, provide equipment that will help identify the symptoms at an early stage and to build a database on identified and diagnosed patients.

A team from China is due to arrive in Sri Lanka in December to help implement this agreement. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and Vice President of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Zhongli Ding.

Although this is commendable, the government should pay more attention to taking into consideration the local academics. Obtaining the assistance from China might not be a bad thing entirely, if it is implemented properly to strengthen the medical research and development facilities and for the overall improvement of our health care system.

President Maithripala Sirisena, being the vocal hero of the farmers, has always been vocal about the disease and the havoc it has wreaked upon the agriculture sector of the country -- with the main cause of the disease speculated to be chemical fertilizer use. It is good that the President has taken steps to show that he is not all talk and no work; the Memorandum with China to assist in medical research shows that at least he's doing something. But one can also argue whether this is enough and whether this surmounts all the talk he has done.

Obviously not and much more can be done with regards to the matter. After all, it is a deadly disease that is not only threatening our population, but also threatens our economic.

Imagine a scenario where the land has become unusable to the unregulated use of chemical fertilizer and weedicide, farmers and their legacy of a diseased generation who have been rendered useless for work due to their deteriorating health. It will surely be the end of our country.

At the end it will not be the forces of international conspiracies or conflict instigated by extremism and racism that will destroy our country – it will be our ignorance of a singular disease that we allowed to wreak havoc. This should not come to pass.

Daily News Editorial

Books on war heroes

01 November 2016

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was chief guest at the launch of former Army Commander Lt.Gen Gerry De Silva’s addition to the latest of the books on the war, titled, ‘War Heroes killed in Action” has commended all such books written about the country’s war heroes to be included in present day school syllabi. Rajapaksa may be having good reasons to make this request, as the leader who presided over the end of the three decades long war, where, a sizable portion of any book written on the war will no doubt be devoted to him as the commander-in-chief.

Be that as it may, this also leaves one with the question as to which war hero’s account is to be selected as deserving to be included in the school curriculum. Prior to the latest release there have been two accounts written on the war. There was the famous “Gota’s War” and “Road to Nandikadal” by Maj. General Kamal Gunaratne. Both books, as in the case of the latest one, featured the Rajapaksas and those close to the former regime, at their grand launches, which also gives one a clear indication as to their slant. Now we are told that Field Marshal Sararth Fonseka too is going to write his own account of the war.

Assuming that Rajapaksa’s request is carried out by the present government and schools are ordered to include the accounts of war heroes in their curriculum, which war hero’s book will be the choice? Will it be an account written about one single individual or all war heroes in general? Will the texts introduced to schools depend on which government is in office? Will a particular war hero’s book that is already made a standard text in schools, be withdrawn with the change of government and replaced by one where the accent is on the adulation of a single individual as against men on the battle field who waged the real war? Naturally there can be only one war hero’s book for the schools. Or will there be a special committee appointed by the government to decide which book is worthy of being introduced to schools?

Be that as it may, Rajapaksa, true to form, seized on the occasion to pillory the government for what he sees as the shabby treatment of the the country’s war heroes. Riding on his hobby horse, the former President accused the government of treating the war heroes like war criminals in the name of reconciliation. What was left unsaid was that the government was pandering to the whims of the west and the Tamil diaspora at the expense of the country’s war heroes. The general tone and tenor of the speech was that the the men who fought on the battlefield and liberated the country were today being hounded and made to suffer indignities like being hauled before courts or thrown behind bars.

No one will dispute the sacrifices made by the valiant men to rid the country of a malignant canker and saved it from disintegration. The book has quite rightly honoured heroes of the calibre of the late Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Wijaya Wimalaratne et al. But there have also been the odd ones out who had not only brought dishonour and shame to the men of the ilk mentioned above but also left a huge blot on the tri services by their acts of criminality, as the investigations are unraveling with each passing day.

Rtd. General Gerry De Silva, we are sure, will be the first to agree that the bad eggs should be dealt with according to the law. The newspapers these days are full of accounts of ex servicemen on the rampage involved in murders, extortion and even rape. If these elements are allowed to go unpunished, in the name of protecting the war heroes, it will only bring a bad name on the entire army and tarnish its image in the eyes of the general public as General Gerry De Silva himself will readily agree.

The former Army Commander would also not endorse the army being used by politicians to act as their storm troopers, and what is more, to bump off their political opponents or get rid of worrisome journalists or those obstructing the designs of VVIP brats. Less said about servicemen used to perform domestic chores at VIP homes or as kennel keepers in the homes VIP siblings, the better.

Gen. De Silva, no doubt, would have been appalled at the manner in which a former Army Commander - his one time comrade in arms, was dragged away like a common criminal and made to stand trial before a kangaroo court before being unceremoniously thrown behind bars, all because he dared challenge the reigning political king.

It is therefore doubtful if Gen. Gerry De Silva made the right choice for chief guest for the launch of his otherwise praiseworthy effort in chronicling yet another account of our redoubtable war heroes.

The Island Editorial

Municipal waste

01 November 2016

 

Unsorted garbage won’t be collected in municipal areas with effect from today, the government has announced. Inconvenient as this move may be to the public, it is a step in the right direction provided all other measures necessary to make the project a success have been adopted. Separate bins and bags for different kinds of garbage will have to be made available. At present the public haphazardly piles up bags of garbage at designated places to be picked up by municipal workers who also walk that extra mile to visit homes if their palms are sufficiently greased.

The question is what the government intends to do with the garbage duly sorted by the public and collected by local government institutions. Are there facilities to recycle glass, paper etc and turn perishables into compost? Or, will all garbage in different bags be simply dumped together in existing refuse dumps like the one at Meethotamulla?

It is no use streamlining only the beginning of the process of garbage collection unless the end thereof is properly managed. Successive governments have adopted the despicable method of shifting the problem of municipals waste to suburban areas. There have been public protests against the existing garbage dumps in the outskirts of Colombo and moves to remove the trash therein to new locations. The government is groping in the dark.

The government has to reveal how it is planning to tackle the garbage issue before forcing the public to sort garbage. The law is said to apply to one and all equally. After all, that is what the present dispensation promised before the last two elections. But, in reality this does not happen. Members of the public who happen to have mosquito breeding places in or around their houses are hauled up before courts and fined in the name of dengue prevention. Such stern action is, no doubt, called for if mosquito borne diseases are to be controlled; no amount of urging and pleading will make people keep the environment clean. But, why is it that no action is taken against the heads of local government institutions and their officials for clogged drains etc which are ideal mosquito breeding grounds, in public places?

The Executive President’s legal immunity came in for much criticism and action has been taken to reduce it considerably. But, local government politicians and bureaucrats responsible for breeding mosquitoes are above the law.

Similarly, if an ordinary person leaves a bag of garbage in a public place he or she runs the risk of being nabbed and prosecuted. But, the so-called city fathers and their officials get away with the serious offence of dumping garbage in suburbs and causing huge environmental problems including the contamination of ground water. People of Meethtamulla say many residents including children are afflicted with respiratory tract diseases owing to air pollution caused by rotting garbage and poisonous gasses emanating there from. But, no mayor has so far been arrested for having city waste dumped in that area. It is time new laws were brought in to make the politicians and officials paid with public funds accountable for causing environmental problem and endangering public health.

Meanwhile, Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faiszer Muthapha ought to take action to hold local government polls without trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public any longer. One may wonder whether the garbage issue he has created is a ruse to distract public attention from the indefinite postponement of LG polls the government is wary of facing. The Joint Opposition claims even elections to co-operative societies have been put off as the government has lost many of those which have already been held.

Minister Musthapha should try to convince his political bosses suffering from ‘election phobia’ resulting from their poor performance and unfulfilled promises that ratepayers’ franchise must be respected.

People are waiting for LG polls to get rid of municipal waste of a different kind—inefficient, corrupt councillors who have been sponging off the public. They must not be denied the pleasure of disposing of political garbage, sorted or unsorted.