Thursday 4th February, 2021
The national flag is fluttering majestically and grand preparations have been made for today’s celebrations to mark the day when the British retroceded this land to its rightful owners. Patriotic excitement has reached fever-pitch. Newspapers traditionally strike a positive note in their editorial comments on a day like this, but why should depressing political, economic and social realities be ignored?
Sri Lankans are known for celebrating what they lack; they are celebrating Independence today. Their leaders, who never miss an opportunity to wrap themselves in the flag, suck in their king-sized pots, puff out their chests and belt out the national anthem with great gusto, religiously, on 04 Feb. They bellow rhetoric, making propaganda mountains out of the molehills of their achievements, year in, year out. The sobering reality dawns when the Independence hangover goes away. This, we have seen for more than seven decades under successive governments p
It is no surprise that ordinary people behave irresponsibly when some members of the noble profession behave idiotically! I do not blame anyone who has come to this inevitable conclusion after the
faux-pas in Gampola Hospital. The idiotic behaviour of some doctors have not only brought our profession into disrepute but also inconvenienced the public; perhaps, endangered people’s lives by causing the closure of some services and, thereby, causing patients to travel far for treatment during a raging epidemic.
Whilst the many members of the medical profession fighting to save lives and controlling the epidemic are too busy to communicate with media personnel, others who are partly ‘released’ for trade union activities have ample time and are in the news all the time. At a time when the public expects them to cooperate with the government to tackle a grave public health emergency, they are busy picking holes in everything, never coming up with solutions. Further, spokesperso