"Our country would prosper under the new President"
 

by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen

"I would like to stress today that our country is having a new vision propped up by 'Mahinda Chinthanaya'. Chinthanaya is philosophy in other words. So any country to march towards prosperity should have a philosophy based on human battles.

So we can be proud that our country has produced a leader who works according to his words. President Mahinda Rajapakse stressed the other day the value of responsible citizens and professionals. So a new era, new vision and a new country is there, before you," said the Chief Minister of the Central Province Sarath Ekanayake.

He made these observations as the Chief Guest when he addressed the Health Emergency and Disaster Management Workshop organised by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and held at the Physiology Lecture Theatre of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Peradeniya on Sunday.

Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake said during the few decades Sri Lanka has witnessed brain drain in its full scale. Most of the educated sons and daughters of mother Lanka have left the country for want of facilities, training and recognition, higher salaries and opportunities to rise up in their respective professions.

Health Emergency and Disaster Management Sector is one of the areas which requires more and more trained professionals. As you know the tsunami which hit our country in December 26 last year killed nearly 31,000 people and caused severe damage to houses, lives and property. At that time, we can remember, the medical staff of the University of Peradeniya rushed to the devastated areas and provided relief to the victims.

He also said that it is with pride and with a deep sense of appreciation that he would like to mention that many hospitals and health staff joined hands with the University of Peradeniya to provide immediate relief to the tsunami victims and in tsunami rehabilitation work.

During these relief activities you must have realised in a deeper sense that most of the medical staff members require special training in Disaster Management, because it was a new situation we all faced in our life time.

We have to be prepared and we must have trained professionals to engage ourselves in disaster management activities, because as you know South East Asian region in now becoming vulnerable to natural disasters like landslides and earth quakes.

Apart from this the other disasters our people are facing man made disasters such as bomb explosions and other traumas which results in deaths and injuries. Daily road traffic accidents are also reaching higher levels and it is also becoming a disaster now.

Chief Minister continued that what he saw was that the teams working in the disaster hit areas should be different in comparison to others. They should possess more human qualities like caring and loving towards others.

When people are faced with disasters, what they require most is a kind word and a helping hand from their fellow citizens. If our minds are not trained and if we are not good, that type of dedicated handling of the affected people, we will not be able to deliver a sense of goodwill towards them. So you require a training in your particular field and that training should be coupled with human feeling and kindness to achieve the desired results.

In conclusion he said that our country now has a President with a vision prompted by the Mahinda Chinthanaya with a new vision and usher in the country towards a new era of progress and prosperity.

Kandy Mayor Kesara Senanayake who was the Guest of Honour said that it is heartening to note that the University of Peradeniya has taken steps to conduct a training programme called Public Health, Emergency and Disaster Management which will help the State to formulate plans to meet any contingency. The Kandy Municipal Council is faced with various health problems especially dengue which has reached alarming proportions even resulting in deaths in the district.

Kandy Municipal Council has taken all steps to contort this problem and has also educated the public of the dangers of this problem and how to eliminate this problem.

These programmes have helped to deprive the dengue mosquitoes of breeding and spreading. He also said that similarly awareness programmes should also be conducted on a large scale on the dangers of the avian flu.

We have now come to a stage that disaster management is very essential in view of the frequent natural disasters which the country is prone to and also the man made disasters such as the Central Bank Bombing, the Pettah bus stand bombing and we should be prepared to meet such challenges which we will have to face without notice.