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| Tuesday, 1 June 2004 |
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Letters | |
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Please forward your letters to editor@dailynews.lk in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
If a person is taught at the universities, then he or she has to be assured of a job, when graduated. Otherwise there is no reason to keep the universities going. Sri Lanka being a small country, cannot afford to give university teaching just for the sake of teaching. It seems that the universities are there to create jobs for the university teachers only. As many of the disgruntled graduates try their best to immigrate to Western countries, it also seems that the universities are there to produce future workers for foreign countries at the Sri Lankan citizens' cost. Graduates should never be unemployed at any cost and it is really gratifying to learn that the Government has already begun calling applications from about 27,000 unemployed graduates. There is no use just giving any job to them, just to keep them off the streets and off the protest rallies. A graduate is a very special person and it is not their fault that the universities do not know how to train them for real job in the real world. When the students join the universities, they join with great expectations for the future and to be good, worthwhile citizens of this country. It seems that many of these graduates, who cannot find a job, are from the Arts faculties. Many an employer thinks that they are not good enough to be given a job, that they are not ready for a job. Actually these graduates are ready for a job and they are good for a job. What these employers and the Government don't see is that these graduates had the persistence to finish the hardest part, which is to get through and pass out. They are a highly persistence and motivated group of people in Sri Lanka today. They went through hell, the O/levels, A/levels, tuition, the university, the strikes etc, etc. Employers will think about people whom they can pay as little as possible and get as much as possible and also expect the graduates to be grateful for the job offered. But the Government has another duty towards the graduates. These graduates are the future of our country. So, please do not give them jobs just to give them jobs. Please create jobs, which have a challenge within them, jobs, where they can be creative, jobs, where they can be useful to this country, jobs, where they feel useful. A persistent person, who had gone through hell to graduate, must be given a chance to feel fulfilled. Please give them the chance to create jobs for themselves, i.e., allow them to participate in the job creation process. These graduates are a very special people and you'll be surprised at the energy and motivation within them, if you know how to tap this power within them. You'll be surprised how an Arts graduate suddenly transforms himself or herself to do an engineering job. If you look at the greatest architects in the world, many of them had not been to an architectural course or a university. I wish the authorities luck in this venture and I hope they have the motivation and the persistence as the graduates had and still have. M. ARIYA, UK 'Unethical practice by veterinary clinic' The doctors and staff of Pet Vet Clinic thank N. P. of Nugegoda (letter, May 3) for commending our professional services and sincerely apologise for any distress caused due to the problems mentioned. i.e. (a) not being able to get an appointment when required, (b) not being able to obtain the laboratory test results of his/her pet, after paying 'exorbitant' fees. In response to the first issue, we are aware that it is at times, difficult to get an appointment when required especially at short notice. The reason for this is that we allocate a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes per patient. We strongly feel that this time allocation is essential in order to maintain hight standards. Unfortunately there are only twelve hours in a working day, which gives a maximum of only 36 appointment slots per doctor. This does not include surgery, which requires us to schedule a minimum two hour time slot for two doctors, or other unforeseen medical or surgical situation that take longer than the allocated 20 minutes. If we compromise on this issue and take in everyone who calls we will be spending about 5-10 min. a patient, rushing through the examination and quality issue to be compromised. Our receptionists have a tough time because doctors insist on the 20 minute rule on one side and clients insist on an appointment on the other and the receptionist ends up in the middle looking like the bad guy either way. We would truly appreciate any ideas or suggestions of better methods that might reduce or alleviate this difficulty in giving appointments without compromising quality of care. The best solution we have come up with to-date is to have a policy where serious cases and emergencies are seen anytime with no appointment required. (The client must let the receptionist know that the animal is seriously ill). The doctor in-charge will stop everything and attend to this case. Waiting clients are advised of the situation and attending to as soon as the emergency is under control and stable, or rescheduled for another day depending on the client's preference. Most of our clients are very understanding and co-operative in these situations. I am sure most people realise that they would want us to do the same, if their pet was in trouble. We take this opportunity to thank our clients for their support and patience. As to the second issue regarding laboratory test results, the allegations are both unfounded and unfair. Firstly our laboratory fees are not exorbitant, but rather are on par to that of other laboratories. Most medical and laboratory equipment is very expensive, especially since we earn in rupee value but have to purchase equipment in dollar terms. In fact, it is largely the problem of costs that limits the diagnostic equipment available to a practice. Furthermore, the lab reports are always available to the client on request. We keep a copy in the patient's file, so that all information is readily available when we need it. Most of our clients don't really want to have the reports while others require copies and records of everything done at the clinic. It makes no difference to us - we work with the client's interest and needs. We do not at the moment make copies of all reports, but rather to do on request, as they are hand written and time-consuming to prepare. However we are looking at computerising lab reports in the near future and will then routinely issue a client copy. We are one of the practices that strongly believe in the concept of referral and work closely with many of our colleagues both in Colombo and elsewhere. We refer cases where we feel a second opinion is needed or if we feel another veterinarians has more equipment, experience and expertise in the procedure required. In fact, we even refer cases to other veterinarians, after the initial examination and with our opinion and suggestions when the clients residence is far from the clinic and transport of the animal is difficult. We as a practice firmly believe in the right of a client to obtain a second opinion or change to another practice for whatever reason. We may or may not agree with the reasons but that makes little difference. In this situation as well, we provide copies of all diagnostic tests and a referral letter with all that has been done for the animal to-date. We strongly urge clients to discuss with the doctor concerned if they feel another opinion is warranted. You will find our doctors very cooperative. We will suggest alternative practices and veterinarians, or liaise with one of your choice. The problem really is that clients feel awkward to do this. Most veterinarians, in recent times, are far more enlightened than you think and will welcome frank discussion of such issues. We at Pet Vet Clinic hope the above has clarified our position on the issues mentioned in the letter concerned. We always welcome constructive suggestions and feedback. We apologise again to N.P. of Nugegoda for any distress caused due to the misunderstanding. Dr. Nalinika Obeysekera, Colombo 4 As a developing country Sri Lanka is not exposed fully to the potential of running quality-based education centres. We have tried very hard to stimulate the interest of journalists in exposing badly-run centres to no avail. Their explanation is that they are registered business centres - never mind what happens to the children. We find it very hard to get sponsorship for the poor pre-schools scattered around the country. If it was a cricket match well... the advertisers and sponsors would be falling over themselves to sponsor the event! Those of us who work at grass roots level know the difficulty of the children in these schools not to mention the conditions the teacher has to undergo. Early childhood educators should know their responsibilities to the children in their care as well as parents and the society at large. Early childhood education is sadly not given the due status in our country which has led to the present situation of abuse and neglect. SHANTHI WIJESINGHE, Executive Committee President, Association of Montessori Directresses and Educators Kandy has recorded the third highest by having 542 cases of dengue so far. There are two sides of the story. Firstly if the residents are ignorant and if they are to be made aware and concerned those found guilty should be prosecuted under a court of law, as dengue should be brought under control as many innocent lives have been claimed. The other is the inefficiency of the Kandy Municipality. What are the health authorities doing and where are the so-called uniformed health inspectors? There are many attributed factors to this menace. There are many unauthorised structures and buildings which come up, where drainage, sanitation and many other factors are not according to the stipulated regulations. The drains are clogged and it seems it is nobodies business? In the good old days we saw employees carrying large aluminium cans with insecticides spraying to the drains and to the places where water was clogged. Today we do not see these people any more. The hierarchy of the council should not warm their seats as they are supposed to do a job and perform their duties, and not think that they are living in incubators? In the past we had a female doctor who was the commissioner of this council who use to walk around the streets of Kandy by 6 a.m. as she always made the field inspections before she went to work. The residents were always on the alert and especially all those who indulged in illegal construction were caught red handed. The roads, drains and even the overgrown weeds and grass beside the roads were cleaned. She was a well respected figure because she was honest and performed her duties well. We need people of this calibre if we are to eradicate dengue permanently. The council has become a real mess as their sole objective is to collect enormous sums of money as revenue from the ratepayers. LI KUANG SHU, Kandy |
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