Sending a medical mission to Zimbabwe:

A humanitarian gesture

By V. R. K. de Silva

The continent of Africa has seen many tragedies without respite with the feverish heat of Portugal and Spain with other European nations finding a sea route to India to grab the famed wealth of India brought in its train untold upheavals with reverberating effects on the entire known world at that time and even today. In rounding the African continent and the discovery of the highly advanced and rich Americas, a new dimension in every facet of human civilization is seen.

These discoveries devastated the fabric of Asia Africa and America leaving these lands in a State of annihilation and inertia. The imperialist powers built their economies and empires without serious opposition to them. Naked aggression diplomatic deceit financial and economic, enslavement, moral and physical abuse and religions imperialism were the hallmarks of their world domination.

Slavery which had been in existence from known history, assumed a more institutionalized economic and commercialized all embrassive form which was impregnable and the effects continue to this day. The whole of Africa was brought to its knees. As this paper is a study of Zimbabwe a retracing of its history would show the helpless and complete domination by the English. They gave the Bible and found that the Africans were left with the Bible and their lands were robbed by the imperialists.

Ancient Zimbabwe lost its name and named after a notorious rogue, founder of freemasons and De Beers Diamond Consolidated Mines Ltd controlling 90% of the diamond trade in the world, Sir Cecil Rhodes marauder and looter of the economic riches and named it Rhodesia. The plight of those proud people with a living heritage was lost. They became a slave state, their lands robbed and became a pauperized people and worked with the lash of a whip. When Robert Mugabe chased the white imperialists, he broughtforth the patriotic fervor of a people who had been tortured for centuries.

Sanctions

The land take over was done in a manner that brought pride to its people. The English, French, German, American and the Dutch and Portugal hated him and brought the country to a very parlous state imposing sanctions denying the health care to the country among other things.

The latest affliction of the people is the cholera epidemic. When Robert Mugabe declared to the whole world that you may `Shout from Washington to London’, but we will pursue the policies for the well-being of our country. He voiced the defiance of the black people of Africa.

Lanka which was known to the world till the westerners came, our culture and civilization and lofty values professed and practised in the country and in our external relations with others was a manifest example of the Buddhist ethics so imbibed by every fibre of our people.

Our health care system was well-known and relied on by our neighbours. Our medicines were taken to distant China and we were so advanced in nursing before the so called Nightingales that it was an example to others.

The combination of the spiritual aspect with the medical dispensation were more than well-known King Buddhadasa the great physician and surgeon wrote a magnificent thesis on Ayurvedic medicine inclusive of a classic in Veterinary Science. The tradition of health care has come to the present day and it will be surprising to note that the chief physician of the Dutch major hospital was a respected and eminent Ayurvedic physician.

The humility and the compassion of these physicians were a by word for an all embracive health care system. Tropical diseases like cholera were well-known and effectively treated by the Ayurvedic system.

The Western systems of medicine too developed their own medication with the advance of scientific researches treating cholera. We see in the electronic media the havoc caused by this decease in Zimbabwe and medical assistance from the western countries has been lukewarm to say the least.

Noble gesture

We have our Minister of Health as the Chairman of the World Health Organisation and is posted with the details of the Zimbabwe tragedy. It is the writers considered view that we should send two teams of Doctors and medical personnel one Ayurvedic and the other the western medical personnel to Zimbabwe to treat the victims free as a noble gesture without hidden agendas but with overflowing compassion. This noble humanitarian medical mission will be a forerunner for other nations to follow. This golden gesture will be greatly appreciated by the Zimbabwean people and the rest of Africa and the world.

This will be a first step in diplomacy of our island nation which will have a far reaching diplomatic triumph for the country in International fora. The stature of President Mahinda Rajapaksa would take him to the fold of an international statesman and our country will be indelibly known on the model of the great Emperor Asoka whose benevolent diplomacy has stood the test of time.