Opinion
Yes indeed, Hippocrates is turning in his grave
My mind time travelled thirty-seven years to the auditorium, Rahula College, Matara. Being one of the two surgeons at the Base Hospital I was a man in demand whom the service receivers respected. My good lady and I were seated in the VIP row of seats and when the curtain raised there was a man hanging from a lamp post in an ill lit left hand corner of the stage. The narrator was late the H.A.Perera and in his inimitable style and signature voice loudly exclaimed “this man hanging here was the last honest man in the country”. The stage play was Maghatha. This was a satirical play depicting the hight of corruption and lawlessness prevailing at the time.
Sri Lanka even at this moment of time is not any better. There will come a time when honesty and truthfulness would make one disqualified to continue to live here. The country is full of dishonest people. Finding an honest man might well prove an exercise that would put Kisa Gothamie in the shade.
It was Monday the 7th November 2022, a public holiday and I had to visit the NHSL,Colombo to see a man who is a distant relative of ours but more importantly a man who did some excellent salvage job for me to make a brand new bathroom screwed up by the previous workmen, up to scratch again. As a result, in a way, I am indebted to him. Having recently had some Deja vu of the thel polim yugaya, I ventured out to bus and walk the trip which I enjoyed very much as the buses were almost empty.
I got to the hospital all right but finding the ward I needed to visit would have been an uphill task if not for an ex-trainee of mine who is at present a top orthopaedic surgeon at the NHSL, whom I met at the Consultants’ lounge. He said “Sir things are very different compared with the time you were a Consultant here. Even after introducing yourself as an ex senior surgeon the response, you receive might embarrass, frustrate, or even anger you. So let me call the ward” and so he did.
It was a medical ward shared between two consultant physicians. There was an air of busyness about the place because they were probably on acute take. Ward had been partitioned into what they called ‘cubicles’ but they were more like solid rectangles or cuboids. Patients of both consultants seemed haphasardly distributed in each ‘cubicle’. Normally in such situations the responsible Physicians name is displayed on the wall at the head end of the bed. No such name boards were visible in this ward. There were three intern house officers on the ward. They knew which cubicle they were responsible for but would definitely have not known the details of patient distribution in the ward. Apparently, the consultants did independent ward rounds but from what I saw those must be reminiscent of the doctor in the house or doctor on the go series. This arrangement is ideal for the two consultants to take every other day off unofficially. I don’t know whether this happens, but I would be very surprised if it didn’t.
My patient’s ordeal exemplifies the degree of confusion that was prevailing amongst the Medical staff of this ward. He is a 51 year old previously healthy teetotaller building supervisor who was suddenly struck down with an acute coronary ailment six weeks ago. Though there has been some delay he eventually had a stent inserted into one of the main arteries of his heart. After a few days in the cardiology unit, he was discharged with a number of tablets and capsules to swallow on a daily basis. All was good till 04 November, when he developed pain under the rib cage radiating to the back of the chest and up between shoulder blades. For all intent and purposes, it was a cardiac (heart) pain and he should have been admitted to the cardiology ward. Not to be. He was bundled into this medical ward. An ECG done on admission had shown some new changes signifying reduced blood supply to a part of the heart with no biochemical evidence of permanent damage to that part of the heart. The biochemical marker of heart muscle damage is Troponin. Hence this condition is called Troponin negative Acute Coronary Syndrome. The medical team in consultation with the cardiology Registrar has started him on anticoagulants (blood thinners). ECG done next mane was normal. Thank goodness for that. Cardiology Registrar never saw the patient physically. Telemedicine at its peak!
Even after my talking to the Consultants personally who promised that a transfer to cardiology would happen, the patient continued to camp in the medical ward for a few more days before being discharged. The scenario made me feel that the Registrars functioned independently of the consultants or communication between senior and junior medical staff was happening only at a very low ebb. Either way it was a dismal state of affairs. I am not sure whether this patient’s management conforms to the accepted norms currently used in the developed world.
My visit was a little over 24 hours after all this had happened. Thanks to my ex-trainee, current Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon, I was greeted well by the doctor at the front desk who passed me on to the doctor my friend and ex-trainee had spoken to over the phone. She and the doctor in charge of the ‘cubicle’ escorted me to my patient. They were two lovely innocent looking girls who seemed trying to find their way around still.
They were thorough with the patient’s condition but didn’t seem to know much logistics around it. They didn’t know if an official referral had been made to the cardiologist who performed the index procedure. They perused the notes but couldn’t find one. They didn’t know which of the two consultants was on call. No consultant has visited the ward on Sunday. I was there till past midday on Monday (07) and didn’t see any consultant doing a round. My patient told me no consultant had gone round the ward on the whole of Monday too. Apparently, the young sweet innocent doctor was not that innocent, after all. She had made a long scribble in the notes without asking the patient a single question and without examining him at all. What a country and what a department of health services!
My response to the two young ladies was this. “Doctors, as budding consultants please remember these are the most vulnerable of human beings because they are acutely unwell. It is our duty to do our best for them. Always try to recognise an urgent situation and treat it to prevent it becoming an emergency. Public holidays are public holidays in which microorganisms are still active causing infection, blood clots still form on ulcerated plaques inside arteries causing acute arterial insufficiency in different parts of the body including the heart, blood pressures and sugars still keep going up and down unconcerned and a whole lot of other known and unknown pathological processes still go on unrelenting. Hence, if you are rostered for the weekend or the public holiday, please make sure your services are physically available. When I was here at the NHSL about twenty years ago there used to be a weekend and public holiday roster made by a man called Mr. Gamage without whom the director felt crippled. There were no computers and printers installed. A simple cyclostyling machine did the job. All wards, all consultants all clinical and other departments received a copy each. So, everybody knew who was on call. Every on-call consultant did a full ward round in the morning. If an emergency cropped up with one of his patients (rarely the case) needing a re-operation he did it himself without handing it over to the casualty team. Exotic investigations and high-tech interventions may well be needed but not the bread and butter of patient care. Awareness, availability ability and empathy constitute holistic care. Please don’t hold them back. Shower your patient with all of the above and you would be a great doctor”. They listened to me so intently in pin-drop silence that they looked as if they were devotees listening to a sermon delivered by Ven. Narada Thero of Vajiraramaya in the distant past.
Unlike in my active working days, in this day and age, even consultants get paid for extra duty they perform. They do get paid for working on holidays as well. Those who get paid for work they haven’t done are as guilty as those who wilfully robbed the country to drag us into economic doldrums. Also, crimes can be perpetrated by commission or by omission. Those who hold back their services to the sick, when rostered, commit a grave crime by omission specially if the juniors who have been entrusted the boss’s job miss an urgent situation which later becomes an emergency to which the poor patient succumbs.
This is in stark contrast to the time I was a trainee and then a consultant and a trainer. The second half of my internship in 1973 was with a tough boss but a great obstetrician Dr. D. E. Gunatilleke, who was to become the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Ceylon, Colombo, the following year. We had a post MRCOG (part l) Registrar (called SHO those days) who came down to the De Soysa Hospital for Women to take up the job from being MOH Atakalampanna, an area in the Ratnapura Health District. He was a gentleman par excellence too. Being an inexperienced trainee, he was very worried about taking the lead so I almost became his equal instead of his intern. He used to talk to the boss through me. This was one of our emergency admission days and we had already done four Caesarean sections for the night when we received a patient transferred from the Base Hospital, Horana with the baby lying crosswise and the mum in labour. Baby’s hand has prolapsed into mum’s vagina. Baby was still alive but in distress. My Registrar the late Dr. Shanthan Perera said, “Machan boss has just returned home after doing the fourth section. I don’t feel confident to call him. Could you please help me with this? I readily obliged as I had a great rapport with my boss. I picked up the phone and spoke to him. “Sir I am awfully sorry to bother you at this ungodly hour especially knowing you have just returned home from hospital. We got this young lady whose second pregnancy has been complicated by her going into labour with a transverse lie of the foetus, hand prolapse and foetal distress. I have resuscitated her with intravenous fluids and intermittent boluses of 50% dextrose. She is on oxygen and an indwelling catheter is showing a good urine output. I have got blood cross matched and the theatre is ready” “Don’t worry Janapriya, I will be there in 10 minutes” Lo and behold he was there in little over five minutes––he lived at Rosemead Place––did a Caesarean section and extracted a healthy baby. It was 5 am and the fifth Caesarean section was done and dusted! Time for a cat nap before the next day starts.
Those were the days. If I fall seriously ill, I will use my time machine and go back in time to be treated by one of those doctors and gentlemen. They had no flashy cars. They had no private practice or indeed extra duty payment or holiday pay. They had no CT and other scanners to help them with diagnostic work up. What they had in plenty were knowledge, skill, empathy and duty consciousness. They were honest, worked very hard and placed patient welfare at the pinnacle. Even a physically diminutive figure like the boss of mine I was referring to, stood head and shoulders above self-conceited big burley medical men of today proudly plying around in expensive top of the order automobiles.
It was Lord Moynihan, a pioneer surgeon who, seeing patients with advanced bladder cancer suffer with excruciating pain due to the cancer invading pelvic nerves said, “Lord, if you want to take me please do not take me through my bladder” I have modified this as per below,
Lord, if you want to take me please don’t torture me through the corridors of the hospitals of Sri Lanka, be it state run or privately owned but simply knock me down with a train, a bus, a lorry or a truck. I will accept it with grace and the drivers will go scot-free too.
Dr. M. M. Janapriya
by Dr B.J.C.Perera
MBBS(Cey), DCH(Cey), DCH(Eng), MD(Paed), MRCP(UK), FRCP(Edin),
FRCP(Lon), FRCPCH(UK), FSLCPaed, FCCP, Hony FRCPCH(UK), Hony. FCGP(SL)
Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and Honorary Senior Fellow,
Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Joint Editor, Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health
In an age of unprecedented global development, technological advancements, universal connectivity, and improvements in living standards in many areas of the world, it is a very dark irony that child food poverty remains a pressing issue. UNICEF defines child food poverty as children’s inability to access and consume a nutritious and diverse diet in early childhood. Despite the planet Earth’s undisputed capacity to produce enough food to nourish everyone, millions of children still go hungry each day. We desperately need to explore the multifaceted deleterious effects of child food poverty, on physical health, cognitive development, emotional well-being, and societal impacts and then try to formulate a road map to alleviate its deleterious effects.
Every day, right across the world, millions of parents and families are struggling to provide nutritious and diverse foods that young children desperately need to reach their full potential. Growing inequities, conflict, and climate crises, combined with rising food prices, the overabundance of unhealthy foods, harmful food marketing strategies and poor child-feeding practices, are condemning millions of children to child food poverty.
In a communique dated 06th June 2024, UNICEF reports that globally, 1 in 4 children; approximately 181 million under the age of five, live in severe child food poverty, defined as consuming at most, two of eight food groups in early childhood. These children are up to 50 per cent more likely to suffer from life-threatening malnutrition. Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood – the third issue of UNICEF’s flagship Child Nutrition Report – highlights that millions of young children are unable to access and consume the nutritious and diverse diets that are essential for their growth and development in early childhood and beyond.
It is highlighted in the report that four out of five children experiencing severe child food poverty are fed only breastmilk or just some other milk and/or a starchy staple, such as maize, rice or wheat. Less than 10 per cent of these children are fed fruits and vegetables and less than 5 per cent are fed nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, fish, poultry, or meat. These are horrendous statistics that should pull at the heartstrings of the discerning populace of this world.
The report also identifies the drivers of child food poverty. Strikingly, though 46 per cent of all cases of severe child food poverty are among poor households where income poverty is likely to be a major driver, 54 per cent live in relatively wealthier households, among whom poor food environments and feeding practices are the main drivers of food poverty in early childhood.
One of the most immediate and visible effects of child food poverty is its detrimental impact on physical health. Malnutrition, which can result from both insufficient calorie intake and lack of essential nutrients, is a prevalent consequence. Chronic undernourishment during formative years leads to stunted growth, weakened immune systems, and increased susceptibility to infections and diseases. Children who do not receive adequate nutrition are more likely to suffer from conditions such as anaemia, rickets, and developmental delays.
Moreover, the lack of proper nutrition can have long-term health consequences. Malnourished children are at a higher risk of developing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity later in life. The paradox of child food poverty is that it can lead to both undernutrition and overnutrition, with children in food-insecure households often consuming calorie-dense but nutrient-poor foods due to economic constraints. This dietary pattern increases the risk of obesity, creating a vicious cycle of poor health outcomes.
The impacts of child food poverty extend beyond physical health, severely affecting cognitive development and educational attainment. Adequate nutrition is crucial for brain development, particularly in the early years of life. Malnutrition can impair cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Studies have consistently shown that malnourished children perform worse academically compared to their well-nourished peers. Inadequate nutrition during early childhood can lead to reduced school readiness and lower IQ scores. These children often struggle to concentrate in school, miss more days due to illness, and have lower overall academic performance. This educational disadvantage perpetuates the cycle of poverty, as lower educational attainment reduces future employment opportunities and earning potential.
The emotional and psychological effects of child food poverty are profound and are often overlooked. Food insecurity creates a constant state of stress and anxiety for both children and their families. The uncertainty of not knowing when or where the next meal will come from can lead to feelings of helplessness and despair. Children in food-insecure households are more likely to experience behavioural problems, including hyperactivity, aggression, and withdrawal. The stigma associated with poverty and hunger can further exacerbate these emotional challenges. Children who experience food poverty may feel shame and embarrassment, leading to social isolation and reduced self-esteem. This psychological toll can have lasting effects, contributing to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety in adolescence and adulthood.
Child food poverty also perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality. Children who grow up in food-insecure households are more likely to remain in poverty as adults, continuing the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. This cycle of poverty exacerbates social disparities, contributing to increased crime rates, reduced social cohesion, and greater reliance on social welfare programmes. The repercussions of child food poverty ripple through society, creating economic and social challenges that affect everyone. The healthcare costs associated with treating malnutrition-related illnesses and chronic diseases are substantial. Additionally, the educational deficits linked to child food poverty result in a less skilled workforce, which hampers economic growth and productivity.
Addressing child food poverty requires a multi-faceted approach that tackles both immediate needs and underlying causes. Policy interventions are crucial in ensuring that all children have access to adequate nutrition. This can include expanding social safety nets, such as food assistance programmes and school meal initiatives, as well as targeted manoeuvres to reach more vulnerable families. Ensuring that these programmes are adequately funded and effectively implemented is essential for their success.
In addition to direct food assistance, broader economic and social policies are needed to address the root causes of poverty. This includes efforts to increase household incomes through living wage policies, job training programs, and economic development initiatives. Supporting families with affordable childcare, healthcare, and housing can also alleviate some of the financial pressures that contribute to food insecurity.
Community-based initiatives play a vital role in combating child food poverty. Local food banks, community gardens, and nutrition education programmes can help provide immediate relief and promote long-term food security. Collaborative efforts between government, non-profits, and the private sector are necessary to create sustainable solutions.
Child food poverty is a profound and inescapable issue with far-reaching consequences. Its deleterious effects on physical health, cognitive development, emotional well-being, and societal stability underscore the urgent need for comprehensive action. As we strive for a more equitable and just world, addressing child food poverty must be a priority. By ensuring that all children have access to adequate nutrition, we can lay the foundation for a healthier, more prosperous future for individuals and society as a whole. The fight against child food poverty is not just a moral imperative but an investment in our collective future. Healthy, well-nourished children are more likely to grow into productive, contributing members of society. The benefits of addressing this issue extend beyond individual well-being, enhancing economic stability and social harmony. It is incumbent upon us all to recognize and act upon the understanding that every child deserves the right to adequate nutrition and the opportunity to thrive.
Despite all of these existent challenges, it is very definitely possible to end child food poverty. The world needs targeted interventions to transform food, health, and social protection systems, and also take steps to strengthen data systems to track progress in reducing child food poverty. All these manoeuvres must comprise a concerted effort towards making nutritious and diverse diets accessible and affordable to all. We need to call for child food poverty reduction to be recognized as a metric of success towards achieving global and national nutrition and development goals.
Material from UNICEF reports and AI assistance are acknowledged.
By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana
The colossal failure of not a single opinion poll predicting accurately the result of the Indian parliamentary election, the greatest exercise in democracy in the world, raises the question whether the importance of opinion polls is vastly exaggerated. During elections two types of opinion polls are conducted; one based on intentions to vote, published during or before the campaign, often being not very accurate as these are subject to many variables but exit polls, done after the voting where a sample tally of how the voters actually voted, are mostly accurate. However, of the 15 exit polls published soon after all the votes were cast in the massive Indian election, 13 vastly overpredicted the number of seats Modi’s BJP led coalition NDA would obtain, some giving a figure as high as 400, the number Modi claimed he is aiming for. The other two polls grossly underestimated predicting a hung parliament. The actual result is that NDA passed the threshold of 272 comfortably, there being no landslide. BJP by itself was not able to cross the threshold, a significant setback for an overconfident Mody! Whether this would result in less excesses on the part of Modi, like Muslim-bashing, remains to be seen. Anyway, the statement issued by BJP that they would be investigating the reasons for failure rather than blaming the process speaks very highly of the maturity of the democratic process in India.
I was intrigued by this failure of opinion polls as this differs dramatically from opinion polls in the UK. I never failed to watch ‘Election night specials’ on BBC; as the Big Ben strikes ‘ten’ (In the UK polls close at 10pm} the anchor comes out with “Exit polls predict that …” and the actual outcome is often almost as predicted. However, many a time opinion polls conducted during the campaign have got the predictions wrong. There are many explanations for this.
An opinion poll is defined as a research survey of public opinion from a particular sample, the origin of which can be traced back to the 1824 US presidential election, when two local newspapers in North Carolina and Delaware predicted the victory of Andrew Jackson but the sample was local. First national survey was done in 1916 by the magazine, Literary Digest, partly for circulation-raising, by mailing millions of postcards and counting the returns. Of course, this was not very scientific though it accurately predicted the election of Woodrow Wilson.
Since then, opinion polls have grown in extent and complexity with scientific methodology improving the outcome of predictions not only in elections but also in market research. As a result, some of these organisations have become big businesses. For instance, YouGov, an internet-based organisation co-founded by the Iraqi-born British politician Nadim Zahawi, based in London had a revenue of 258 million GBP in 2023.
In Sri Lanka, opinion polls seem to be conducted by only one organisation which, by itself, is a disadvantage, as pooled data from surveys conducted by many are more likely to reflect the true situation. Irrespective of the degree of accuracy, politicians seem to be dependent on the available data which lend explanations to the behaviour of some.
The Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey has been tracking the voting intentions for the likely candidates for the Presidential election. At one stage the NPP/JVP leader AKD was getting a figure over 50%. This together with some degree of international acceptance made the JVP behave as if they are already in power, leading to some incidents where their true colour was showing.
The comments made by a prominent member of the JVP who claimed that the JVP killed only the riff-raff, raised many questions, in addition to being a total insult to many innocents killed by them including my uncle. Do they have the authority to do so? Do extra-judicial killings continue to be JVP policy? Do they consider anyone who disagrees with them riff-raff? Will they kill them simply because they do not comply like one of my admired teachers, Dr Gladys Jayawardena who was considered riff-raff because she, as the Chairman of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation, arranged to buy drugs cheaper from India? Is it not the height of hypocrisy that AKD is now boasting of his ties to India?
Another big-wig comes with the grand idea of devolving law and order to village level. As stated very strongly, in the editorial “Pledges and reality” (The Island, 20 May) is this what they intend to do: Have JVP kangaroo-courts!
Perhaps, as a result of these incidents AKD’s ratings has dropped to 39%, according to the IHP survey done in April, and Sajith Premadasa’s ratings have increased gradually to match that. Whilst they are level pegging Ranil is far behind at 13%. Is this the reason why Ranil is getting his acolytes to propagate the idea that the best for the country is to extend his tenure by a referendum? He forced the postponement of Local Governments elections by refusing to release funds but he cannot do so for the presidential election for constitutional reasons. He is now looking for loopholes. Has he considered the distinct possibility that the referendum to extend the life of the presidency and the parliament if lost, would double the expenditure?
Unfortunately, this has been an exercise in futility and it would not be surprising if the next survey shows Ranil’s chances dropping even further! Perhaps, the best option available to Ranil is to retire gracefully, taking credit for steadying the economy and saving the country from an anarchic invasion of the parliament, rather than to leave politics in disgrace by coming third in the presidential election. Unless, of course, he is convinced that opinion polls do not matter and what matters is the ballots in the box!
By Prof. Kirthi Tennakone
ktenna@yahoo.co.uk
Thoughtfulness is the quality of being conscious of issues that arise and considering action while seeking explanations. It facilitates finding solutions to problems and judging experiences.
Almost all human accomplishments are consequences of thoughtfulness.
Can you perform day-to-day work efficiently and effectively without being thoughtful? Obviously, no. Are there any major advancements attained without thought and contemplation? Not a single example!
Science and technology, art, music and literary compositions and religion stand conspicuously as products of thought.
Thought could have sinister motives and the only way to eliminate them is through thought itself. Thought could distinguish right from wrong.
Empathy, love, amusement, and expression of sorrow are reflections of thought.
Thought relieves worries by understanding or taking decisive action.
Despite the universal virtue of thoughtfulness, some advocate an idea termed mindfulness, claiming the benefits of nurturing this quality to shape mental wellbeing. The concept is defined as focusing attention to the present moment without judgment. A way of forgetting the worries and calming the mind – a form of meditation. A definition coined in the West to decouple the concept from religion. The attitude could have a temporary advantage as a method of softening negative feelings such as sorrow and anger. However, no man or woman can afford to be non-judgmental all the time. It is incompatible with indispensable thoughtfulness! What is the advantage of diverting attention to one thing without discernment during a few tens of minute’s meditation? The instructors of mindfulness meditation tell you to focus attention on trivial things. Whereas in thoughtfulness, you concentrate the mind on challenging issues. Sometimes arriving at groundbreaking scientific discoveries, solution of mathematical problems or the creation of masterpieces in engineering, art, or literature.
The concept of meditation and mindfulness originated in ancient India around 1000 BCE. Vedic ascetics believed the practice would lead to supernatural powers enabling disclosure of the truth. Failing to meet the said aspiration, notwithstanding so many stories in scripture, is discernable. Otherwise, the world would have been awakened to advancement by ancient Indians before the Greeks. The latter culture emphasized thoughtfulness!
In India, Buddha was the first to deviate from the Vedic philosophy. His teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputra, were adherents of meditation. Unconvinced of their approach, Buddha concluded a thoughtful analysis of the actualities of life should be the path to realisation. However, in an environment dominated by Vedic tradition, meditation residually persisted when Buddha’s teachings transformed into a religion.
In the early 1970s, a few in the West picked up meditation and mindfulness. We Easterners, who criticize Western ideas all the time, got exalted after seeing something Eastern accepted in the Western circles. Thereafter, Easterners took up the subject more seriously, in the spirit of its definition in the West.
Today, mindfulness has become a marketable commodity – a thriving business spreading worldwide, fueled largely by advertising. There are practice centres, lessons onsite and online, and apps for purchase. Articles written by gurus of the field appear on the web.
What attracts people to mindfulness programmes? Many assume them being stressed and depressed needs to improve their mental capacity. In most instances, these are minor complaints and for understandable reasons, they do not seek mainstream medical interventions but go for exaggeratedly advertised alternatives. Mainstream medical treatments are based on rigorous science and spell out both the pros and cons of the procedure, avoiding overstatement. Whereas the alternative sector makes unsubstantiated claims about the efficacy and effectiveness of the treatment.
Advocates of mindfulness claim the benefits of their prescriptions have been proven scientifically. There are reports (mostly in open-access journals which charge a fee for publication) indicating that authors have found positive aspects of mindfulness or identified reasons correlating the efficacy of such activities. However, they rarely meet standards normally required for unequivocal acceptance. The gold standard of scientific scrutiny is the statistically significant reproducibility of claims.
If a mindfulness guru claims his prescription of meditation cures hypertension, he must record the blood pressure of participants before and after completion of the activity and show the blood pressure of a large percentage has stably dropped and repeat the experiment with different clients. He must also conduct sessions where he adopts another prescription (a placebo) under the same conditions and compares the results. This is not enough, he must request someone else to conduct sessions following his prescription, to rule out the influence of the personality of the instructor.
The laity unaware of the above rigid requirements, accede to purported claims of mindfulness proponents.
A few years ago, an article published and widely cited stated that the practice of mindfulness increases the gray matter density of the brain. A more recent study found there is no such correlation. Popular expositions on the subject do not refer to the latter report. Most mindfulness research published seems to have been conducted intending to prove the benefits of the practice. The hard science demands doing the opposite as well-experiments carried out intending to disprove the claims. You need to be skeptical until things are firmly established.
Despite many efforts diverted to disprove Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, no contradictions have been found in vain to date, strengthening the validity of the theory. Regarding mindfulness, as it stands, benefits can neither be proved nor disproved, to the gold standard of scientific scrutiny.
Some schools in foreign lands have accommodated mindfulness training programs hoping to develop the mental facility of students and Sri Lanka plans to follow. However, studies also reveal these exercises are ineffective or do more harm than good. Have we investigated this issue before imitation?
Should we force our children to focus attention on one single goal without judgment, even for a moment?
Why not allow young minds to roam wild in their deepest imagination and build castles in the air and encourage them to turn these fantasies into realities by nurturing their thoughtfulness?
Be more thoughtful than mindful?
