Of that political syrup

Thursday 24th December 2020

The Ayurveda Department has, in what may be described as a surprising move, approved the untested Dhammika peniya or syrup, which is being flaunted as a cure for COVID-19. Cabinet Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana has revealed this, according to the lead news item in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper.

Opinion on any issue is divided along political lines, in this country. The Dhammika peniya has become so politicised that it can now be called a political syrup as it were. A section of the government is promoting it aggressively, and its rivals are ridiculing it as ‘engine oil’.

The ruling party grandees known for wrapping themselves in the flag have, true to form, mixed their brand of patriotism with the untested syrup. They seem to believe that they have beaten the West to it, as the western medical system has so far failed to find a cure for COVID-19. They are living in cloud cuckoo land, using as they do the controversial decoction to power their anti-Western campaign, and anyone who refuses to subscribe to their view becomes a traitor in their eyes. Similarly, rational thinking is alien to their rivals, who think the West is the best and have nothing but contempt for anything Sri Lankan. They are using the Dhammika peniya to fuel their smear campaign against the government, which is their bête noire because it is backed by nationalistic forces.

One should not look down upon native medicine, and similarly one should not make the mistake of ingesting decoctions prepared by native physicians sans any credentials. One has to keep an open mind and act rationally. Time was when the native medical system flourished, but it suffered irreversible setbacks during the colonial era, and precious little has been done by way of scientific research to develop it since Independence. This has helped quacks masquerade as native physicians.

One may argue that the real issue as regards the coronavirus-cure controversy is that the Dhammika peniya has more to do with a divine revelation than with native medicine because the person who produced it is a kapuwa (custodian of a shrine) who claims to have been communicating with a goddess. The question that should be posed to the ‘patriots’ promoting the syrup is why the truly Sri Lankan Gods believed to be watching over this land have not revealed the ‘cure’ for COVID-19.

Is it that the Ayurveda Department has had to approve the Dhammika peniya because the Health Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, Ministers, a host of ordinary MPs and other such worthies have already endorsed it by ingesting it? If the syrup had not been granted approval by the Ayurveda Department, the aforesaid grandees would have found themselves in an embarrassing position.

A drug, allopathic or homeopathic or otherwise, has to be tested scientifically before being approved. To approve a drug and then conduct tests thereon is to put the cart before the horse. Perhaps, Dr. Pathirana should explain the rationale behind the reverse order which the Ayruveda Department is reported to have adopted if what one gathers from his statement at issue is anything to go by.

Wet city, dry cops

We received a large number of calls from our readers, yesterday evening, complaining that it had taken them as long as three hours to travel across the Colombo city as traffic was grinding nose to tail, on most roads, especially the ones that lead to the airport expressway from the city centre. We independently verified those claims and found them to be true.

The number of vehicles entering the city has drastically decreased due to the pandemic and the police must be able to ensure a smooth flow of traffic without difficulty. But they seem determined to keep roads congested. Yesterday’s traffic snarl is a case in point. True, there was a cloudburst and some roads went under water, but the actual cause of unusual traffic congestion was something else. Gridlocks that crippled most parts of the city were due to the absence of the traffic policemen at the main intersections, where private buses and trucks ignored signal lights and caused mayhem.

Some of our readers informed us that several traffic policemen stood knee deep in water to prevent congestion at the Thunmulla Junction. Such police personnel deserve not only praise but also rewards. If they can do so, why can’t others? Those who chose to stay indoors while traffic was snarled up must be taken to task. A group of office workers travelling in a van complained that they had been stuck in a traffic jam at Armour Street, Kotahena, for nearly one hour. After we made inquiries from the Armour Street police station, the road was cleared in less than five minutes! Why could not they do so earlier?

It is the duty of the traffic police and the transport authorities to ensure that people spend the least possible time inside public vehicles, where they run the risk of being exposed to coronavirus. Yesterday, they had to spend several hours inside buses and vans unnecessarily because the traffic police personnel, save a few, did not want to get wet.

New Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera, a former battle-scarred veteran who intrepidly engaged the Tigers in fierce sea battles and prevailed while in active service, and straightened up the Civil Defence Force after his retirement, ought to ensure that the traffic policemen are out when roads get congested, rain or shine. We suggest that a hotline be set up for road users to make complaints against the traffic police and action taken against errant officers.