Stitch in time

A stitch in time saves nine is an old saying. It embodies an important principle of management. Timely attention and attendance to repairs saves both time and money.

Unfortunately this important piece of elderly wisdom seems to be forgotten nowadays in the age of management gurus and abundant international and local consultations.

From websites to mega development projects, the emphasis today is on the beginning only. In most instances they are opened or commissioned with much fanfare amid media glitz at ‘auspicious times’ only to be abandoned or left to face the wrath of elements without protection.

Take for example our roads. Millions are spent on them for their construction. Soon after they are at the mercy of elements. Urgent running repairs are not attended to in time, making it obligatory to undertake bigger repairs at a higher cost later on. The process of repairing takes so long and is done in instalments so that by the time one stretch is repaired another stretch has degenerated to such an extent needing urgent repairs. So the repair process goes on uninterrupted for months and months, even years making it uncomfortable to road users. The short road leading to Parliament from Colombo has been in a state of constant repair for 12 months or more with dug up pavements and drains cut at edges making it inconvenient for motorists as well as pedestrians.

It has been the practice also to cut up even roads just repaired for purposes of pipe laying or cable laying. There needs to be a central authority to undertake such work in association with the RDA so that everything could be planned in advance so as to ensure the least unnecessary delay.

Projects planned to be completed in a specific time framework often get delayed so that agreed estimates have to be revised very often upwards making them more expensive and more time consuming. The burden is on the public and the contractors ensure that even additional expenses required due to their follies are passed on to the former. Accountability is a rare product in Sri Lanka.

Lack of time management and adherence to a principle of postponing for ‘tomorrow’ what can be done today has become the work culture in many instances and institutions. It is time to reverse this home-made principle to the age-old one of ‘never postpone for tomorrow what can be done today.’

Better late than never

Our lead story yesterday was the decision of the Health Ministry to conduct an awareness campaign on how to prevent Novel Influenza or AH1N1 from spreading.

This is welcome news. However, the question is why did the Ministry wait so long. According to official data the second wave of the disease has started in September. That means the warning is three months late. May be the authorities did not want the public to panic. The people, on the other hand did not panic even in cases of more deadly diseases rising to epidemic level.

It seems that the authorities started panicking by mid-December when the deaths numbered about a dozen. In a matter of two days they decided to hurry up vaccinating the risk groups. The irony is that the vaccine has been lying in stores for several months without an effort being made to administer them. One could recall here the boisterous claims of bureaucrats and politicians that the country is well equipped to meet the AH1N1 challenge when they managed to get the vaccine from the WHO.

When the real challenge came they realised that the vaccines were unused. They hurriedly vaccinated the health staff with the vaccine that was due to expire on December 16. By the time the circular was sent to vaccinate the risk groups only two batches of the vaccine were available. They had expiry dates marked December 31, 2010 and January 31, 2011. Had the authorities acted in time there would have been no need to panic and the spread of the disease could have been better curtailed.

Eternal vigilance and timely action should be the motto of the health staff. Our health staff is generally efficient. The lapse seems to have occurred at the decision taking level.

There is also another danger. That is the danger of falling into complacency at the first sign of success. It had happened several times in the campaign against dengue. It is hoped that it would not recur in the case of the present campaign against AH1NI.