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| Sunday, 09 March 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Chief MOH promises clean, mosquito-free city by Carol Aloysius Dr.Pradeep Kariyawasam is all set to pull out the ammunition and powers vested in him as Chief Medical Officer, Colombo to rout out and bring to book all offenders of the city's by-laws, which means keeping the city free of beggars, drug addicts and petty criminals; clearing garbage that freely litter the streets; mending blocked drains that breed mosquitoes; and turning schools and neighbourhoods into healthy, vibrant communities. Equally, he is determined to penalise all food vendors big or small, who violate the Food Act and sell sub-standard food in unhygienic settings. In an interview with the Sunday Observer Dr. Kariyawasam said: "Vendors selling sub-standard food on the streets have trebled. We had 800 cases last year, with the number of unlicensed vendors detected rose to a new high of 500. Crimes have also escalated to such a pitch that no one feels safe walking alone. The beggar population has multiplied with many elderly persons now living on our streets. Schools are no better. Only one qualified as a `Healthy School' in a trial survey of 14 schools which preceded our launching of the` Healthy Schools' campaign recently." So how does CMC plan to turn around the image of this unhealthy, crime filled, dirty city? "We have already begun the Healthy Schools program which is more than just physically cleaning up the schools. We have now drawn up a number of plans to improve the psycho-social and physical environment of schools in the city, beginning with clean compounds, more space in classrooms, improving teacher-student relationships and student- student relationships to prevent ragging and bullying. "The CMC also envisages an ambitious program for the future which includes greening of the city, preventing domestic violence and suicides, creating hospitals on wheels for accident victims, setting up soup kitchens for the poor, doing door to door visits of shanty settlements and focusing on the needs of adolescents and girl children, among other things," Dr. Kariyawasam said. Dr. Kariyawasam also said that the CMC plans to set up shelters and soup kitchens to be run by the Council with the help of the Social Services Ministry, as soon as it gets a building that can be used by homeless persons to sleep in at night and to have a hot meal". In the case of battered women who are the main victims of domestic violence, Dr. Kariyawasam said that the CMC is working with (Women-In-Need) (WIN) to create awareness of the problem. " We will also act as the go between for WIN and the Police Department". Drug addicts are also to be drawn into a rehabilitation program run by the CMC, he added. The escalating number of road accidents has inspired the CMC's MOH to come up with an 'Emergency and Rescue Service' operating within the city. "We will have an ambulance ready for just this purpose. When there's an accident anyone can phone the hotline and inform the police who in turn will deploy an ambulance to visit the site manned by trained para medics. This will be much better than taking the victim to hospital in three wheelers, as it usually happens. There will be no charge for this service", he said. The chief MOH also promised a Mosquito Free City, through an integrated program with other municipal councils around the island. If this succeeds, he was confident that Sri Lanka could eradicate its public enemy number 1. But for this he emphasised that the public must co-operate by keeping their own residences clean. Hence the recently-launched Clean Road Frontage program. |
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