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| Sunday, 10 March 2002 |
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Features |  |
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Some Sunday newspapers seem to be going in for prophets as cartoonists. Not meaning to be invidious, I liked the one where a pert little nurse, with an air of seeming innocence, asks a doctor: Do we reserve two beds now, sir (when the news broke that the Ratwatte brothers who had run rings round the cops or they may have looked in the wrong places) had surrendered. As prophets go, they are no great shakes. Because we all knew that,sooner rather than later, they would develop pains in the chest (or whatever) which would need medical attention. They were not as fortunate as their father who had himself admitted to the Merchants Ward, the poshest one in the country. But they didn't do too badly, either prison hospital, better I assume, than a plain prison cell and whatever the rules may say, their relative merits would earn them privileges and facilities near to the luxuries of the feudal castle they were used to. Suspect criminals remanded or about to be remanded are known to find their way to hospital sooner or later. That is not exactly a new phenomenon. But lately there have been some interesting cases. One of the most remarkable was that of the PA minister Mr. Ranatunga who checked in at a hospital in time. And, according to one story I read, if I understood it right, had a magistrate stand by to remand him in situ, avoiding the hassle of having to be produced in court. And he spent his period in the comfort of a hospital bed. It had another interesting features. A crucial witness who had earlier testified that he had seen the minister at the scene had,on reflection, remembered he had been set up by some UNP and PA members to incriminate him. Naturally, the minister got away scot free. There is another aspect to this kind of thing supposing every underworld Tom, Dick and Harry followed the example of their betters, what then? Not that it would be easy to fool our doctors who with their highly honed skills would spot a malingerer a mile away. But would not the Hippocratic oath oblige them to treat them, diverting scarce human and material resources from genuine patients? I have not myself heard of an instance of a malingerer thrown out of a hospital. And would they get medical certificates and so on if such were needed? That is a troubling thought, isn't it? I would never entertain such an evil thought. Not to my dying day. - Gamarala |
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