Biden’s good start on China
LONDON – US President Joe Biden’s new administration has begun to show its hand regarding its policy toward China. So far, three encouraging developments stand out, suggesting that the United States will regard the huge, Leninist surveillance state not just as a competitor, but as a determined threat to all free societies. For starters, Secretary [...]
Fourth constitution in the same abyss as before?
Supreme Courts around the world face daunting challenges unlike in old times when they were looked upon with awe and fear. These days it is ‘the supremacy of the people’ that is supreme, and not the so-called Supreme Courts. Nonetheless, the US Supreme Court covered itself with glory last month at a time when the [...]
Turkey donates ventilators, face masks to Sri Lanka to fight COVID-19
Turkey has donated ventilators and personal protection equipment to support Sri Lanka help combat and control Covid-19. The donation includes ten Turkish-made medical ventilators, 50,000 surgical masks and 15,000 N95 masks. The donation was made by the government of Turkey as a gesture of friendship and goodwill between Turkey and Sri Lanka, a statement from [...]
Deshabandu Dr. C. G. Uragoda Oration
Deshabandu Dr. C. G. Uragoda Oration on ‘History of Medicine’ will be delivered at 6.30 pm on Friday February 26 by Professor Ravindra Fernando at the Lionel Memorial Auditorium, at the SLMA. The topic will be “History of Forensic Medicine in Sri Lanka” . As there is a restriction in the number of persons who [...]
Jingles for law and order: Nidhos, Nidahas – Dhos, Sadhos
A jingle is now sung for law and order in our once Paradise Isle: Nidhos, nidahas – Dhos, Sadhos. Acquittal and discharge alongside charge and high charge – is the rough English translation. The Sinhala version is more expressive and effective than the terms in English. The Sinhala phrase sounds like a chant or mantra, [...]
Dr Neville Fernando and fee-levying medical education in Sri Lanka: The vision, the agony and the future
Once Dr Neville Fernando wrote me an email wishing for my death by lightning. The next day he sent me another apologising for what he had said in a fit of anger. He was angry and he was upset. He had founded the South Asian Institute for Technology and Medicine to (SAITM) to provide opportunities [...]
Seventy-three years old: How independent are we?
One of the idiosyncrasies associated with being as old as I am is that over the past several decades, I have acquired a collection of books, magazines and souvenirs that I enjoy browsing through from time to time. So, it was with great interest that I came across, as we were getting ready to celebrate [...]
Why this is our best chance at defeating the pandemic
(CNN)- “Vulnerable” is how Ugandan midwife Harriet Nayiga feels, working for a grassroots organisation to provide sexual and reproductive health services in her community during the pandemic. “Stress” and “moral responsibility” accompanied first-year Pakistani nurse Sana Baloch on her rounds treating Covid-19 patients. And nurse Keisha Prevatt-Gomez, who became the first frontline health worker to [...]