The medical profession, once considered immune from political manipulation, is slowly but surely being coerced into agreeing to political decisions taken by the government.
Many in the profession are aghast at this blatant interference but some doctors have been brave enough to stand up and take a stance.
This week, Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, senior consultant physician attached to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) resigned from the Inter-collegiate Technical Committee of the Director-General of Health Services. Dr. Wijewickrama was a key player in the battle against pandemic in the country and helped prepare the IDH to meet the challenges of treating Covid-19, when it first emerged in the country early last year.
Shortly afterwards, Dr. Asoka Gunaratne, a senior consultant anaesthetist, also stepped down from the same Technical Committee. Dr. Gunaratne served in the committee by virtue of being the President of the College of Anaesthesiologists and Intensivists.
Both doctors, highly respected in the medical profession for their professionalism and integrity, have been reluctant to speak publicly about the reasons for their resignations. “I am a Government servant, I am not supposed to talk to the press,” Dr. Wijewickrama said. “I decided to leave the Committee as I felt that I will not be contributing anything fruitful to the Committee anymore,” Dr. Gunaratne said.
These resignations come in the wake of reports that the government decided to utilise the much sought after Pfizer vaccine among 20–29 year age group in the Hambantota district. Why the Hambantota district was chosen for the roll out was a question that was being asked by many as the prevalence of corona virus infections there was much less than in more populous districts such as Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara.
It is also understood that medical experts were firmly of the view that the priority in vaccination should be accorded to older age groups who are considered to be more susceptible to complications, serious illness and death due to Covid-19. They were surprised and baffled by the decision to vaccinate a much younger group and that too in a region where the virus has much less prevalence.
These experts are of the view that if their specialist professional opinion is not being given due consideration and decisions are taken in an arbitrary manner, no purpose is being served by their presence in committees that purportedly advise the government.
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa who also represents Hambantota district in Parliament attempted to deflect the issue stating that the decision to allocate vaccines are taken by health officials but no health official took responsibility for the decision nor were they able to offer a rationale as to why Hambantota was the chosen district.
Even the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), the doctors’ trade union which has maintained a deafening silence during the pandemic when the government took many a questionable decision in managing the deadly corona virus, questioned the move.
Earlier the government had also implemented a plan to immunise the public in Kandy with Sputnik vaccine after obtaining a letter from them stating they consented to being given a single dose of the vaccine. This decision too was frowned upon by the medical community as it was considered both unprofessional and unethical. Newly appointed Health Minister represents the Kandy electoral district in Parliament.
A few months, ago two other experts, top immunologist Prof. Neelika Malavige of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and Prof. A. Pathmeswaran of the Kelaniya University resigned from the Vaccine Advisory Expert Committee. This followed pressure brought on them to approve the Sinopharm vaccine without the relevant data being available. At the time, Professor Malavige, who has won numerous international awards for her research work, cited ‘personal’ reasons for her resignation.
In March this year, then Chairman of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), Professor Asita de Silva, a professor of Pharmacology at the University of Kelaniya, resigned. This was after an attempt by State Minister of Production, Supply, and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana to remove four members of the NMRA, including highly acclaimed professionals known for their impartiality. Professor De Silva refused to do so, instead submitting his own resignation.
More recently former Director of the Medical Research Institute, Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara was summoned to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to explain statements he had made to the media. Dr. Bandara had publicly criticised the high price of the Rapid Antigen Tests for the corona virus being marketed in the country and had also questioned several aspects of the government’s Covid-19 management strategy.
While these incidents have all occurred in the context of Covid-19 related issues, this government’s strategy of browbeating the medical profession was in evidence well before that. In November last year, then Health Minister sacked five members of the apex body that governs the medical profession, the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
Among those sacked were Professor Harendrade Silva and Professor Narada Warnasuriya, two eminent paediatricians of unimpeachable integrity who held senior positions in universities. This was the first time in the history of the SLMC that a minister had intervened and dismissed members of the Council.
All these events point to an established pattern of intimidation and harassment of the medical profession by the powers that be. Now, they wish to conduct the battle against the corona virus pandemic in their own way: sidelining professionals, maximising profits for their cronies and politicising the pandemic for their own advantage regardless of the medical advice.
This is what has resulted in the current plight of the country, with over 10,000 lives being lost, most of them in the past few months because political leaders continued to ignore medical advice to lockdown the country in a timely manner. Even now, the so-called ‘lockdown’ is nothing but a sham with shops open for businesses and plenty of traffic on the roads with not a policeman in sight.
With such blatant disregard for scientific and medical advice, it is little wonder that respected clinicians are resigning from committees- being doctors, they don’t want blood on their hands!
