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| Sunday, 9 November 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Heart operations at Karapitiya blocked by SHANIKA SRIYANANDA Confusion reigns over the stand off between the nurses and the surgeon at the Cardio Thoracic Unit (CTU) of the Karapitiya General Hospital, with both parties saying they are prepared to resume work. But there is no sign of resumption of surgeries, which was stopped on October 23. The most affected by the stand off are hundreds of little children, who need urgent heart surgery to save their lives. The dispute between the nurses and the Medical head of the Cardio Thoracic Unit arose over an incentive issue. The Cardio Thoracic Unit is a pilot project, where after-duty surgery was carried out to ease the long waiting list. The project is sponsored by the President's Fund and the medical staff were paid incentives for their after-duty surgery. The Health officials intended to introduce the system to other Cardio Thoracic Units to expedite heart surgery. Over 2,000 patients are in the waiting list and 70 per cent of them are children, who need urgent surgical correction to survive. According to hospital sources, 10 patients have already died because of the stand off. This excludes those who died at their homes. Dr. Namal Gamage, Consultant Cardiologist and the head of the unit, who filed a case against the nurses said he was not getting the support from the nurses to re-commence surgery. "They are not allowing other nurses to carry-out the work", he charged. With the commencement of after-duty surgery, the Karapitiya CTU was able to perform over 225 surgeries during the last four-and-half months. "Earlier, we performed 150 surgeries annually, but under the pilot project 225 open heart surgeries were performed during a period of four months", Dr. Gamage said. Over 750 new heart patients are registered with the unit annually and majority of them are little children who need urgent surgery at an early stage. Dr. Gamage said that he charged merely Rs. 10,000 for an open heart surgery at the unit, and the money was given from the President's Fund. "If I am selling my labour to a private hospital, I can charge more than Rs. 80,000", he added. However, Rs. 2.2 million has been paid to Dr. Gamage, Rs. 2 million to other medical officers and Rs. 1.9 million to the nursing staff by the President's Fund since March this year. Meanwhile, Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera, President of the Public Service United Nurses' Union (PSUNU), blamed the hospital authority for sabotaging the well functioned unit. "Our nurses never said that we are not assisting surgery. Nurses are ready at anytime", he said. |
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