Peniya exposes crooked politicisation

The Health Minister promoting spurious syrups (S-R-D Peniyas) is a rare exposure of the direct consequence of ‘politicisation’ and the undermining of science by the politicians. COVID-19 has a natural death rate of 4% whether you treat it or not. What ‘Peniya’ is trying to do is to give it to 100 people and claim benefit for curing or preventing 96 from dying. Science does exactly the opposite. Science wants to see clear evidence of any intervention that would prevent or curtail the four deaths.

The recent sacking of members of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) is another consequence of attempts at politicisation. The function of the SLMC is completely apolitical, and its core duty is to ensure that the medical profession is disciplined to maintain the benchmarks and standards, not just of academia or competence, but also the behaviour. The ultimate tool they use to regulate is the ‘registration to practice’ medicine in Sri Lanka. They are expected to ensure training programmes are fit for the purpose and criminals have no access to patients, as doctors.

What politicians want to do is bring politics into this, and create a pathway for their stooges to jump the queues or access facilities in demand at the expense of another citizen’s right. To do that they need a handle, at least to be able to threaten the doctors who do not comply with the erasure of their registration to practice. If they succeed, a day will come where the politicians decide who should not be given access to services, such as intensive care or cardiac services. That would mark the day of the demise of professionalism in our medical practice. If the public is happy to be tolerant of these practices, not just in medicine but in other professional services, too, that needs to maintain quality and discipline independently, that would be the beginning of the end of the ‘pearl’ of this Indian ocean.

CHULA GOONASEKERA

Medical academic