Letters to the Editor
View(s):Speedy and easy availability of ambulance services can save lives in all cities
Health reasons, accidents and forensic events can precipitate the need for the urgent availability of emergency transport with a trained staff to handle many a protean situation. The universal availability of mobile phones has made it possible for each major city in this country to mount an effective ambulance service. With the ever improving road access it seems to my mind entirely a feasible proposition.
It’s an incontrovertible truth that an ever increasing elderly population live conjugally or alone, often finding themselves at a loss to access ready emergency transport other than a neighbourhood three wheeler. Children or relatives living elsewhere in the country or outside it often panic and would consider it a boon to have such a reliable service. It behoves the city fathers to look at this reality and cater to it more empathetically.
I will try to justify this request from some recent events.When a bus went down a precipice, causing many an injury, it was the police who came first on the scene, in their vehicles. They carried the injured up the incline to the main road. The tragedy was, firstly, they did not have stretchers, neck stabilisers and other necessary equipment. As a result, they might have irrecoverably made the injuries worse. Having brought them up the incline, the ambulance service from nearby hospitals took time to come. In such circumstances, time and trained care are of the essence: A matter of life and death.
Modern technology has made such disorders (i.e. medical emergencies) such as heart attacks, strokes and airway blockage by foreign bodies, now well within the ambit of resuscitation. Most major hospitals are equipped with facilities, well trained staff in Emergency Care Units and with 24/7 trained medics, who can attend to most emergencies. But the reality is that the patient does not come in time. For example though the “clot buster drug” for strokes is now available with CT facilities to diagnose in most major hospitals, patients are not brought in time. A recent study revealed that only 1-2% of stroke patents come in the window of time of 4.5 hours prescribed for good results. It’s no point in making available facilities without being able to address the upstream handicaps.
I am informed that the major hospitals in Kandy often receive children and adults brought with airway difficulty (suffocating) by inhaling foreign bodies such as Rambutan seeds. Some of them are dead on arrival. They could have been saved if there had been ambulances with trained care and facilities.
In Kandy where I live, the hospital transport service is not available to citizens of Kandy. The private hospitals are not always equipped with ambulances; even if available, they are not readily accessible 24/7. The Red Cross, which should be a ready alternative, is not in a position to provide an acceptable service as it has no ambulance. We limp on. It is time those concerned took a step in the right direction. We might lose many lives if we are to await the diffusion to Kandy of the Ambulance Service, so thoughtfully arranged for the Western Province by the Prime Minister with Indian help.
Dr. Channa Ratnatunga
Kandy
Glorification of handcuffs:
What’s gone wrong in Sri Lanka?
There was a time when criminals hid their faces in shame when taken about in public handcuffed. Today, criminals who have committed grave crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery have turned the dreaded handcuffs into a symbol of triumph.
Our society has sunk to such a low that there is no shame attached to crime. Handcuffed perpetrators of acts detrimental to society are often portrayed prominently by the media grinning in jubilation and raising their hands exhibiting their handcuffs triumphantly.
When the African Americans led by Martin Luther King resorted to this practice in the 1960s the United States Police began to slap handcuffs behind their backs. When large numbers were arrested nylon cords were used to tie their hands.
In Sri Lanka, Police and prison officials who allow suspects and criminals to publicly demonstrate their contempt for the law deserve to be commended for their magnanimity. However, in my view publicity seeking jokers should not be provided the opportunity to demonstrate their bravado brazenly exhibiting their handcuffed wrists.
Oh, what has befallen this Paradise Isle, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean? In no other country, perhaps, are the people so steeped in religion. What with the country dotted with temples, mosques, devales and churches! The foremost task of these religions today should be to restore in our leaders the sense of shame.
Edward Gunawardena Via email
The pain after the rain: We have to act to prevent floods
We are faced with the problem of flooding in Colombo and the suburbs. In my opinion the main factor contributing to flooding is the non-availability of floodwater retention areas. Such land has been utilised to put up high rise buildings and houses.
Then there are other reasons. Some builders who lack civic consciousness heap building materials such as metal and sand on the main roads since they cannot take their lorries in to the building sites through narrow lanes. They do not care that what they unload on the roads also goes in to the drains and blocks them.
I have also seen street sweepers leaving heaps of sand on the edge of the road surface. These again find their way to the drains.
Let me cite an example: The drains on either side of the road at W.A. Silva Mawatha in Wellawatte are covered with concrete slabs. One has to lift a slab to see what’s in the ‘underworld’. It is full of sand and debris, teeming with mosquito larvae with occasional sighting of cockroaches and rodents.
The Wellawatte canal was dredged a few years ago but still the water looks stagnant because the end of the canal where it meets the sea is filled with sand and this prevents the water from flowing into the ocean even in low tide. This is the situation with regard to many other canals also.
The rain, will come and go but it’s up to us to find ways to keep ourselves safe.
Kanagar Raveendiran
Ratmalana