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| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Consumer Ombudsman by National Consumer Watch Promoting a healthy mobile telecommunication sector in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka's mobile telecommunications industry should become an equal playing field with a strong balance of each firm's power in the industry. Based on free market economic principles it is always to the betterment of the consumers, if equally powerful firms dominate the industry rather than a single firm dominating the whole industry. At present a single company dominates the entire market. It is the duty of the regulators to promote the industry as a whole, with a view of the customer and a healthy competition among existing players. Telecom ombudsman The telecommunication industry of Sri Lanka was liberalized with the establishment of Sri Lanka Telecom, the predecessor to the former Telecommunication and Posts Department, of the government of Sri Lanka. This was necessitated by the increasing demand from the people for telephone connections. It was a step in the right direction. With the liberalisation, the private sector was invited to invest in the market. Meanwhile mobile telecommunication companies too invested in business in Sri Lanka. At present the industry needs a suitable mechanism to handle customer grievances against network operators and sellers. Thus it will be appropriate to appoint a "Telecom Ombudsman" to look into these matters. The present TRC as a regulator may face a conflict of interest situation if it is entrusted with the task of addressing customer grievances and complaints. The financial ombudsman, and the insurance ombudsman were appointed because of the fact that the two regulative bodies, Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Insurance Board of Sri Lanka respectively were not in a position to handle the large number of customer complaints. Social security scheme the population Sri Lanka lacks an effective social security scheme for its large population. At present there isn't a comprehensive social security scheme covering the entire population of Sri Lanka. The best way to effectively deal with this alarming situation in Sri Lanka is to make health insurance a compulsory requirement for all Sri Lankans (as well as visitors to the country). Sri Lanka's insurance industry is yet to develop into its fullest potential. Currently the Sri Lankan population is under-insured. Many Sri Lankans get into difficulties when they have to find ways and means of financing medical bills in case of hospitalisation for major illnesses. Those who do not have adequate financial resources or insurance cover may seek health services from a government hospital. However the services are often limited as it is provided free of charge. The government of Sri Lanka should implement a policy regarding the health of its population. The best way to deal with this aspect is by making health insurance compulsory. Such a compulsory health insurance policy may be stipulated by law to include frequent illnesses and also accidents on the road. This will ensure that people get the required health treatment at times of need. At present people often make appeals for public donations when they need urgent medical treatment. The making of health insurance compulsory will ensure that the relevant insurance company come forward to settle bills without any additional burden. Also in the case of property many, households and businesses in Sri Lanka do not rely on insurance to cover the risks to their assets. Especially in cases of households the percentage of insurance of property is very low. The problem in this regard is that in case of major damage to the property due to some unexpected contingency, people may face the risk of losing shelter for many days. For example one can see the difficulties the tsunami affected families faced for months when their entire property and other household things had been damaged. People in Sri Lanka do not take measures to cover their risks properly. Therefore they get into trouble. In this regard, it will be worthwhile for the government of Sri Lanka to consider enacting laws to make the property insurance compulsory as in the case of health insurance. At present only the vehicle insurance is made compulsory in Sri Lanka by law. Employment advertising Often thousands of Rupees are spent by firms on advertising for job vacancies. These advertisements appear in very attractive formats and encourage everyone to apply for the vacancies announced. Most of the time the advertisers do not make a serious attempt to specifically inform readers and the applicants, specifications required for the vacancies. Instead, the job advertisements announce in vague form the 'job descriptions' and the 'person specifications'. Such vagueness always makes room for an increased number of applicants sending their CVs for the vacancies announced. Thus the recruitment drive of the firm will be successful, as it may attract many CVs. Consequently this helps the firm to make the best of the recruitment decisions from the large number of CVs received. However often this results in a situation where applicants send in their CVs in an unwanted and unnecessary way. Due to this, the frustration caused to job applicants is immense as they wait with hope for a reply. The best way to handle this situation is by enacting gazetted regulations by the ministry of labour, stipulating the basic information that should be mentioned clearly in a job advertisement. Such laws should mention certain specific set of words that has to be used in a job advertisement. Unhygienic hotels in Sri Lanka The situation in this regard is pathetic as very unhygienic conditions prevail in the eating houses in the city. Often schoolchildren and office workers patronize these hotels. In many hotels water to the kitchen is drawn from the buckets in the toilets. It seems the municipality, urban and pradeshiya sabha health inspectors often neglect their duty to inspect the hygienic conditions of the kitchens and food preparation. Due to this these unethical and unhealthy practices continue without any corrective action. It is time that the government of Sri Lanka adopts a suitable mechanism in this regard to have some control over the proper execution of duties of the local government bodies in Sri Lanka. Number of insane people on the roads It is really disheartening to observe the large number of people who spend time on the roads due to loss of sanity. From north to south there are large numbers of such people on the roads. Often others are cruel to them and do not give any humane attention to their situations. Even though it is the Sri Lanka Police that has the legal duty as well as the authority to ward them at hospitals this is not done at present. Due to this these people continue to live on the roads and sometimes die on roads. It is time the police took some constructive measures in this regard. We are at No. 143 A, Vajira Road, Colombo 5. |
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