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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Letters |  |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
National Drug Policy - a timely need Recent news reports revealed that the Health Ministry will introduce a new national drug policy to the country. When formulating a national drug policy the following needs are crucial: The number of drugs registered under one generic name should be limited so that drug procurement, regulation, dispensing and prescribing become less complicated and much cheaper, requiring less trained personnel. Infrastructure required for quality assurance of drugs should be strengthened. Quality of the pharmaceuticals should be tested regularly even after introducing drugs to the market. Role of the pharmacists should be changed from that of a vendor to a professional. Regularly updated drug information should be freely available to doctors and pharmacists. This will not be a difficult task as the vision of pioneers like Professor Senaka Bible still lingers on in our hearts. Now is the time for all the stakeholders - doctors, government regulatory officials, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacists and consumers to start a dialogue. Dr. Ruwan Chandana, Lecturer, Stringent laws to prevent corruption of tsunami aid The Government consider passing special laws immediately that impose stringent punishments for any individual or organisation that abuse the funds or goods assigned for the tsunami relief operation. This should be considered as top priority. It will also ensure the donors that measures are being taken to ensure aid is given to the beneficiaries and not into the pockets of corrupt individuals or officials. While the laws of the land is in tact to prevent bribery and corruption, this special law relating to the tsunami disaster will be a message to any one who wishes to put his 'hand in the till'. There were reports of individual 'vultures' robbing victims of the disaster. M. Ghouse, Value to be Sri Lankan - do you know? What is the good of Sri Lankans singing fancy songs saying 'We are Sri Lankans, etc,' with reference to the recent tsunami disaster and Nimal Mendis composing songs in far away London, when the basics of decency and compassion are not observed in Ruhunu Childrens Home in Galle as reported by Jayantha Sri Nissanka? I was in Sri Lanka during the tsunami disaster and did some small things I could do to help as are all these compassionate doctors and others who are still staying on and helping. If we are unable to offer material help then kindness and compassion towards victims, especially the children, must be shown. If the staff at this home cannot do this they have no right to call themselves Sri Lankans. I urge the government, to hold an immediate inquiry. If the staff are at fault, it is far better that the running of the home is handed over to Buddhist or Christian clergy with a government grant. Let foreigners who want to do voluntary work be permitted to do so after clearance of their credentials. Alan Jansen, Time is now ripe for the State to embark on a poverty alleviation program simultaneously with tsunami relief activities. The existence of poverty at an alarming rate is worst compared to corruption, terrorism or even a tsunami. The affluents among us should always be prepared to assist their poor kith and kin and also the immediate neighbours to the maximum, irrespective of cast and creed which was apparent in the generosity shown towards the known and unknown tsunami victims. H.N. Wimeleratne, Caller Party Pays System is discriminating Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has announced a public hearing on caller party pays system. He gives the impression that expert consultants have gone through everything and arrived at conclusions. If the normal subscribers have to pay a higher figure, to call a mobile subscriber in the country than an international call commonly made available then the experts should know better that the wisdom of the process is no better than that of the 'Mahadenamutta'. This system came into being to eliminate the charges of incoming calls to mobile subscribers. If absurd conclusions are reached as a result of transferring the cost to the calling party, then the solution lies somewhere else. Therefore, the Public Hearing should go into the root of the matter instead of the tariff of the system. I understand that a previous public hearing did not encourage this system. They maintained that the charges for incoming calls will reduce with time due to competition. That conclusion has been proved correct. A new method has to be thought of eliminating the incoming charge for mobile subscribers without harassing the existing landline subscribers. Fawzia Sherifdeen, Poachers are caught, not with one deer skin, but over a dozen bundled together at a time. The flesh already sold. Now turtle killing is on the rise. It is a common news item how loads of cattle, including pregnant cows and little calves are stolen and the police, who are informed do nothing at all. Why it is so? Serving turtle flesh, deer, birds' nests, etc. in restaurants, hotels and other eating houses should be made a punishable offence. Have frequent raids and impose heavy fines. All vehicles returning from 'pilgrimage' closer to our wildlife sanctuaries should be subject to relentless check. Every hotel and restaurant should be compelled to have a board close to its eating area, listing the flesh that it is prohibited to serve, with mention of the heavy fines to the establishment and also to the customers found gorging on the forbidden dish. Prema Ranawaka - Das, The Constitutional and National Integration Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera in a public consultation on January 29 on the need to put the peace effort on track was able to gather political leaders, professionals, clergy, intellectuals, trade unionists, NGO's personnel and the general public to see how best the peace process could be activated. Let us not miss this opportunity. Let us forget the past and think of the future, especially the younger generation. The Government and the LTTE should have a change of attitude, adopt a new strategy, go off the beaten track, search for new pastures, talk about peace and harmony now, on a new basis that is the golden dream of all Sri Lankans, the young and the old. J.T. Mirando, We must design a flag which says 'thank you' to the foreign countries that helped us following the tsunami disaster. In addition it must contain the flags of the countries that helped us. In order to avoid any discrepancy between countries we must place the flags in an alphabetical order of the name of the country. This flag must be placed in all Sri Lankan Embassies abroad and also in buildings, landmarks and where ever applicable in Sri Lanka. In addition a 'thank you' stamp must be introduced by the Postal Department. Patriotic |
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