Ailing kidneys, callous hearts
July 8, 2013
Politicians have earned notoriety for their selfishness, inefficiency, arrogance, nosiness and, above all, callousness. Disgruntled public sector workers condemn them at every turn. But, one sees no difference between errant politicians and self-righteous trade unionists whose interests are threatened. All of them do not care a damn about the public interest in pursuing their goals.
The National Institute for Nephrology, Dialysis & Transplantation (NINDT), Colombo 10, had not performed any kidney transplant operations since its grand opening about four years ago until this week due to a row, which had all the trappings of a prestige battle, between doctors and nurses over an on-call room. The warring parties kept blaming one another for crippling the institution and the Health Ministry did precious little to solve the problem. Instead, it sought to remain neutral lest it should incur the wrath of either of the two most powerful trade unions in the health sector.
It took over three years for the NINDT to put the crippling dispute behind it! Thankfully, arrangements have been made to commence transplant operations, as we reported yesterday. Better late than never!
Protracted trade union battles are quite common in the state-run health institutions. They are so fiercely fought that sometimes parties thereto have no qualms about adopting even Neanderthal tactics to win their demands. In June 2008, as we pointed out in these columns last month, some nurses engaged in trade union action at the Peradeniya Hospital, committed a criminal offence which would have made Florence Nightingale not just turn in her grave but cover her face in shame and weep; they forcibly removed the oxygen mask of a child in the intensive care unit! Equally shocking was the fact that the trade unions in the health sector never so much as censured the culprits who went scot free. Worse, some of the union bigwigs who chose to ignore that crime are now pontificating on ethics, the rule of law and good governance!
The NINDT could perform one kidney transplant operation per week, we are told. It is hoped that it will be equipped to cater to more patients in time to come in view of the high incidence of renal diseases. Even at the current rate, at least 156 lives could have been saved for the past few years had that institute been fully functional. Over 200 kidney patients have died in the country during that period while waiting for kidney transplants, according to media reports. The importance of keeping the NINDT open cannot be overemphasised.
The law is a lame ass in this country and, therefore, nobody is likely to be brought to justice over kidney patients’ deaths which could have been avoided, but the responsibility of those who crippled the NINDT for the loss of life, is sure to weigh on their conscience.
Doctors and nurses who kept fighting at the expense of the poor kidney patients desperate for life saving operations and the health ministry officials who let the grass grow under their bureaucratic feet should be made to explain why they took so long to find a way out. The solution had been there all along and how come it eluded them for so long while critically ill patients were perishing for want of treatment? The nurses have finally agreed to hand over the room to doctors on the Health Ministry’s assurance that they, too, will be given one. That arrangement could have been made at the very outset without causing suffering to poor patients.
Let the government be urged to conduct a probe into the circumstances that led to the suspension of kidney transplant operations at the NINDT and serious lapses on the part of the health administrators.
