New era for Sri Lanka as Rajapaksa loses

James Crabtree in Colombo-August 18, 2015

As former president Mahinda Rajapaksa comes to terms with his second electoral defeat in eight months, many in Sri Lanka are also predicting what once seemed unthinkable: the final political demise of a leader who, until just a year ago, seemed to hold an iron grip on their country.

Mr Rajapaksa hoped Tuesday’s result would herald an unlikely comeback — allowing him to seize the office of prime minister while simultaneously avenging his downfall at the hands of former party ally Maithripala Sirisena in presidential elections in January.

Instead, his Sri Lanka Freedom party trailed in second behind the centre-right United National party. The result leaves the UNP's Ranil Wickremesinghe set to return as prime minister, having claimed victory on Tuesday, and form a new coalition government in the island’s 225-member parliament. Analysts say Mr Rajapaksa’s departure — after a 10-year rule — could herald a new era, one in which Sri Lanka faces up to brutality of its past and distances itself from its once cosy relationship with Beijing.

Mr Rajapaksa’s loss stemmed in part from a slick and well-funded UNP campaign, aided by advice from Lynton Crosby, the Australian political strategist who masterminded David Cameron’s victory in Britain’s general election earlier this year.

Mr Wickremesinghe’s message bore many of the hallmarks of Mr Crosby, who flew in and out quietly during the election. Where once Mr Rajapaksa’s image dominated Sri Lanka’s media, this time blunt UNP adverts blanketed local newspapers, offering a stark choice between “good governance” and “jungle law” under the ex-president.

As in January's contest, Mr Rajapaksa’s appeals to the Sinhalese-speaking Buddhist majority failed to rack up enough votes to overcome more liberal-minded urban voters, alongside those backing Tamil parties, which won overwhelmingly in the island’s north.

At a deeper level, however, analysts said the result represented a rejection of the muscular nationalism embodied by Mr Rajapaksa's rule, borne of his role as victor in the island's civil war, which ended in a crushing defeat for the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

“The hope must now be that a double defeat means Sri Lanka can move on, and begin to solve some of the issues of post-war reconciliation and devolution of power that have been so difficult,” says Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group.

Making good on promises of better governance will be one early challenge, and one of direct interest to Mr Rajapaksa himself, as he braces for an array of corruption investigations. Opponents claim the Rajapaksa’s family-dominated regime siphoned away huge sums during its decade in power, including from the many Chinese-backed infrastructure schemes that symbolised Sri Lanka’s post-war economic boom.

Instead, Mr Wickremesinghe talks of a market-friendly economic policy, placing less emphasis on financial ties with China, and more on tempting global companies to use the south Asian island as a base for export-led manufacturing. He is likely to keep rebalancing Sri Lanka’s international relations too, patching up ties with India and the west after a decade in which Mr Rajapaksa cosied up to Beijing.

But before any of this, Mr Sirisena and Mr Wickremesinghe must grapple with the thornier problem of Sri Lanka’s troubled history. Next month the United Nations will publish a report examining allegations of atrocities during the civil war’s closing stages, in which up to 40,000 are estimated to have died.

“It is going to have detailed accounts of the most horrendous crimes, with dates and facts and names,” says one government adviser. “It will be very hard to handle.”

To move forward, Mr Wickremesinghe plans a new “credible domestic mechanism” into wartime abuses, similar to South Africa’s post-apartheid truth and reconciliation commission. Unspecified measures to devolve more power to the Tamil-majority north are also expected. 

Delivering these promises is sure to prove fraught. On the one hand, any wartime investigation must be sufficiently comprehensive to win over the UN Human Rights Council, as well as global human rights bodies and domestic Tamil parties, who tend to favour an international process.

On the other, the new government will want to avoid appearing to bend to international pressure, which would risk a backlash among the Sinhalese, who remain wary of both foreign meddling and resurgent ethnic separatism. 

All of this in turn leads back to Mr Rajapaksa. His return to power having been thwarted, and his image of invincibility thoroughly broken, he is now certain to face calls for accountability over his own position as wartime commander-in-chief.

Mr Sirisena has previously said his rival will be protected from international prosecution. But any domestic investigation will nonetheless have to consider the former president’s role, potentially stirring up old enmities among those many Sri Lankans who view him as both patriot and war hero.

“Politically he is a spent force,” says Ahilan Kadirgamar, a political analyst based in the northern city of Jaffna. “But a lot of attention is going to remain on him . . . as the government tries to bring about a just investigation into the crimes of the past.”

Sri Lanka's parliamentary election

The new government has every chance to improve Sri Lankan lives

Mahinda’s setback: whisper it quietly

Aug 22nd 2015

AT THE height of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary campaign, footage taken with a mobile phone went viral. It showed Mahinda Rajapaksa, an authoritarian former president running to become an MP, lunging at a member of the public, his fists clenched, before aides pulled him away. The short film suggested that Mr Rajapaksa already knew things were going badly for his group, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

Sure enough, his hopes of forming a government and becoming prime minister were dashed in the election on August 17th. Admittedly, he won a place for himself in parliament. But his alliance got just 95 of the 225 seats in the legislature. It fell well short of the 144 he mustered in 2010, a year after he presided as president over a resounding military defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, ending the country’s long and bloody civil war.

It is Mr Rajapaksa’s second big setback. To everyone’s surprise in January he lost a snap presidential election to a former colleague, Maithripala Sirisena. Now Mr Rajapaksa and several former members of his regime face prosecution for alleged corruption related to his nine-year rule.

Sri Lanka emerges from this latest election with a hung Parliament and a fiendishly complex array of allegiances (weirdly, Mr Sirisena is technically head of the UPFA). But outlines of a new government are clear. A coalition called the United National Front for Good Governance won 106 seats. It also has the backing of smaller parties that support its agenda of electoral, right-to-information and other reforms. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who leads the largest party in Parliament, the United National Party (UNP), will be sworn in again as prime minister. He has done the job since January, in a marriage of convenience with the new president, Mr Sirisena.

The marriage is supposed to prevail for the next five years, though the president and prime minister are from rival parties: the UNP is centre-right whereas Mr Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party describes itself as socialist. The new cabinet will include members of both parties and various smaller ones. The prime minister will be in charge of economic policy with Mr Sirisena probably taking on the defence and environment portfolios. Given a record of co-operation in the seven months before the election, the two men should make a fist of things. They have a common foe in Mr Rajapaksa, who says he will use his time in Parliament to “safeguard the nation and the democratic system”.

Mr Rajapaksa and his loyalists might try to disrupt government business, possibly making it difficult for the coalition to deliver on promised constitutional changes, which need a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Mr Wickremesinghe talks about getting a consensus among parties and bringing an end to “divisive politics”. He also wants religious and other groups to contribute ideas and support.

Much needs to change. Public institutions became politicised under Mr Rajapaksa and will have to return to a neutral professionalism. The extensive network of patronage from which the Rajapaksa family and its friends benefited will have to be dismantled. The role of the army, which dominates civil life in minority Tamil areas in the north and east, will need to be adjusted. Foreign policy that once heavily favoured China has already begun to shift towards closer ties with India and the West.

The new government has a chance to resolve decades of ethnic strife between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamils. Both Mr Rajapaksa and a group of former Tamil Tigers running for seats had tried to inflame tensions. But Mangala Samaraweera, who will probably stay on as foreign minister, talks of a defeat for extremists on “both sides of the divide”—the former rebels did not win a single seat.

A plan to devolve more power to the provinces is likely to be discussed. The moderate Tamil National Alliance, which won 16 seats, says it will co-operate. An early test involves setting up a promised independent mechanism for investigating allegations of war crimes committed late in the civil war, which ended in 2009. Next month the UN Human Rights Council will publish the results of its own inquiry, which are expected to underscore abuses on both sides during that period. The ruling party says, not very clearly, that it will “provide a response within the country’s legal framework”. 

As for the economy, voters want lower inflation and cheaper food. The new government now has a mandate for more market reforms and less state meddling. Opposition over economic policy is unlikely. Indeed it remains uncertain just who, officially, will lead the opposition. For now the only real contender is a Marxist party, with just six seats. Unless Mr Rajapaksa somehow makes a lunge for the role.

Killi pressurizes president to give MP positions to Tiran, Sri Ranga!

Aug 20, 2015

Sirasa Media Network’s owner Killi Maharaja, who tries to be the kingmaker in every government, is pressurizing to get two of his henchmen, corrupt businessman Tiran Alles and Nuwara Eliya district former MP J. Sri Ranga, appointed to parliament on the national list, say president’s office sources.

Presently staying at St. Johnwood in London, Killi gives several telephone calls a day to the president and tells him to fulfil his request anyhow, say the sources.

 

He has told his friends that the president would be treated through his media network in a manner similar to that being meted out to Ranil Wickremesinghe. After Wickremesinghe refused a similar request at the 2004 general election, Killi has been unjustly and unfairly attacking him through his media network.

 

Killi tried to take a similar approach for the Rajapaksas, and the result was that his media network headquarters at Depanama, Pannipitiya was reduced to ashes in January 2009. Thereafter, he reached an unconditional media ceasefire with the Rajapaksas. Gotabhaya has said that the only language Killi understood was being torched.

 

Later, Killi was tamed by the Rajapaksas to such an extent that the chief guest at the Sirasa Media Network’s annual Vesak zones was the then defence secretary Gotabhaya.

SLTB claims Rs. 142 Mn from UPFA

2015-08-20
The SLTB filed a lawsuit in the Colombo Commercial High Court today against the 2015- presidential election committee members of the UPFA, including former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, claiming a sum of Rs. 142 million. 

The complainant said the UPFA had hired buses from the SLTB for the January 8th presidential election but had failed to settle the payments after obtaining the services. 

The SLTB has named seven UPFA election committee members, including Mr. Rajapaksa, Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Gamini Senarath, as respondents. The case had been filed through Somaratne Associates. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda) 

Islamic State claims responsibility for massive car bombing in Cairo

 Dozens were wounded when a car bomb exploded overnight near a security building and a courthouse in a Cairo suburb. Egyptian authorities have mounted the toughest security crackdown against militants in the country's history. (Reuters)

By Erin Cunningham and Heba Habib-August 20

CAIRO — The Islamic State claimed Thursday it carried out a massive car bombing that targeted Egyptian security forces in Cairo, calling the operation revenge for the deaths of some of its members earlier this year.

Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Massive Car Bombing in Cairo by Thavam Ratna

Bereaved Palestinian father fights for justice in US

Rania Khalek Rights and Accountability 19 August 2015

The funderal of Nadim Nuwara (in yellow) and Muhammad Abu al-Thahir on 16 May 2014.

Issam RimawiAPA images

The father of a Palestinian teen shot dead by an Israeli soldier in 2014 met with officials from the US State Department on Thursday, 6 August to demand justice for his son.

Bereaved Palestinian Father Fights for Justice in US by Thavam Ratna

Tensions rise as North and South Korea exchange artillery fire

 Thu Aug 20, 2015
South Korea fired tens of artillery rounds towards North Korea on Thursday after the North launched shells to protest South Korea's anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts along the border, as tension escalated on the peninsula.

North Korea did not return fire but later warned Seoul in a letter that it would take military action if the South did not stop the loudspeaker broadcasts within 48 hours, the South's Defence Ministry said.

In a separate letter, Pyongyang said it was willing to offer an opening to resolve the conflict even though it considers the broadcasts a declaration of war, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

A South Korean military official said the broadcasts, which began on Aug. 10, would continue.

South Korea said the North fired a 14.5 mm anti-aircraft shell at 3:52 p.m. (0652 GMT), then fired multiple shells from a 76.2 mm direct fire weapon at 4:15 p.m.

No damage or injuries were reported in the South.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye told top defence officials to "react firmly" to North Korean provocations, a spokesman quoted her as saying.

South Korea's military, which said it fired 155 mm artillery rounds in response, raised its alert status to the highest level.

"Our military has stepped up monitoring and is closely watching North Korean military movements," South Korea's defence ministry said.

There was no mention of the firing in isolated North Korea's state media, which does not typically make immediate comment on events.

The United States, which has about 28,500 troops in South Korea, said it was concerned and closely monitoring the situation.

"Such provocative actions heighten tensions, and we call on Pyongyang to refrain from actions and rhetoric that threaten regional peace and security," U.S. State Department spokesperson Katina Adams said.

The first North Korean shell landed in an area about 60 km (35 miles) north of Seoul in the western part of the border zone, the defence ministry said. Nearly 800 South Korean residents living close to the border were ordered to evacuate and stay in shelters, according to officials from Gyeonggi province and the city of Incheon.

The exchange of fire was the first between the two Koreas since last October, when North Korean soldiers approached the military border and did not retreat after the South fired warning shots, the South Korean Defence Ministry said at the time. The North's soldiers fired back in an exchange of gunfire that lasted about 10 minutes, with no casualties.

Tension between the two Koreas has risen since early this month when landmine explosions in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) of the border wounded two South Korean soldiers. Seoul accused North Korea of laying the mines, which Pyongyang has denied.

Seoul then began blasting anti-North Korean propaganda from loudspeakers on the border, resuming a tactic that both sides had halted in 2004.

North Korea on Saturday demanded that the South stop the broadcasts or face military action, and on Monday began conducting its own broadcasts.

Thursday's exchange of fire came amid ongoing annual joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises, which began on Monday and which North Korea condemns as preparation for war.

The two Koreas have remained in a technical state of war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

South Korea's won currency weakened in non-deliverable forward trading on the reports of the firing, which came after onshore spot trading had closed. The 1-month contract rose as high as 1,192.7 won per dollar from around 1,189.8 earlier.

(Additional reporting by James Pearson, Christine Kim and Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Ryan Woo and Alan Crosby)

Ben Bernanke: Being In the Military Won’t Actually Help You in the Real World

BY JOHN HUDSON-AUGUST 17, 2015

The U.S. military has spent tens of millions of dollars on TV advertising promoting the armed forces as a great way to acquire skills and training that will pay dividends in the private sector. But on Monday, one of the country’s most respected observers of the U.S. labor force, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, directly contradicted that message.

“The evidence appears to be that there really is not an advantage,” Bernanke told a crowd at a Brookings Institution event in Washington. “If you go into the military at age 18 — versus an identical person who stays in the private sector and takes a private sector job — 10 years later, if you leave the military, your skills and wages are probably not going to be quite as high on average as the private sector person.”

Bernanke specifically called out the U.S. Army for using misleading advertising and noted that for veterans who left the military after 2001, the unemployment rate is just above 7 percent, as opposed to the national average of 5.3 percent.

“The military takes our younger people and uses them for good purposes, but it’s not really adding much to the private sector through training or other experience,” Bernanke said.

The remarks have already drawn heavy fire from veterans who say the renowned economist, widely credited for leading the Fed out of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, is wrong on the facts.  

“I am not sure where Mr. Bernanke got his information, but the current numbers just don’t reflect saying military service does not help you succeed in the private sector,” said Fred Wellman, a 22-year Army veteran and CEO of ScoutComms, a veteran-focused advocacy firm. “The most current surveys show that veterans are far more likely to be employed than non-veterans and earn higher median incomes in those jobs.”

Frustrated by the claim, Wellman added that Bernanke’s remarks were “just another example of the civil-military divide, wherein Americans have ill-informed or dated views of what veterans bring to our country.”

Phil Carter, an Army vet who served in Iraq and is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, says the reality is more complicated than both sides are letting on.

According to surveys and data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Wellman is correct that the total unemployment rate for veterans overall is lower than for the general public. However, Bernanke is also correct that post-9/11 veterans, specifically, have a higher unemployment rate than non-veterans when adjusting for demographic differences.

Carter said that an important factor is that veterans who served prior to 9/11 — predominantly white males — tend to do well in the private sector and are beating the national average for unemployment by a significant margin, a fact that distorts the average.

However, he also pushed back against Bernanke, noting that post-9/11 veterans won’t immediately see a benefit from military service due to the time it takes to readjust to private sector work. But, he said, those skills do pay off over time — which will be reflected in future surveys.

“It takes time for veterans to catch up, but the data show that they do catch up and, in many ways, surpass their peers over time,” he said.

Ultimately though, Carter acknowledged that Bernanke’s contention is a sensitive one because it threatens the entire premise of America’s modern military. “Bernanke’s speaking a very uncomfortable truth that goes to the core of the all-volunteer force,” said Carter. “The whole idea is it can recruit people by saying, ‘You’ll serve your country and be better off afterwards,’” he said. “Bernanke’s comments suggest that might not be true, and that’s a big problem for the all-volunteer force.”

Photo credit: Getty Images

Has Thailand’s treatment of displaced Muslims made it a target for extremists?

Police investigate the scene the morning after the explosion in Bangkok,Thailand, Tuesday. Pic: AP.

By Daniel Maxwell- Aug 20, 2015

The bombing in the centre of Bangkok which killed 20 and injured 125 people on Monday evening shook the country and took Thai authorities completely unawares. The following day, and despite a heightened state of alert, a second bomb exploded at a busy pier by the Chao Phraya River, again catching security forces off guard. The police have since released pictures of a suspect but as yet there have been only theories and speculation about who exactly is behind these attacks.

Has Thailand’s Treatment of Displaced Muslims Made It a Target for Extremists by Thavam Ratna

Greek bailout: Alexis Tsipras to 'step down and call snap elections'

Prime minister set to make imminent announcement, with 20 September predicted as most likely date for a poll
Alexis Tsipras insisted that accepting tough reform demands is the only way to ensure Greece remains in the eurozone. Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

Jon Henley-Thursday 20 August 2015

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has decided to step down and call snap elections for 20 September, government officials said.

As the debt-crippled country received the first tranche of its new €86bn (£61bn) bailout, Tsipras was set to make the formal announcement later on Thursday, government sources told Reuters..

Once he submits his resignation the prime minister would be replaced by the president of Greece’s supreme court, Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou – a vocal bailout opponent – who would oversee the elections as the head of a transitional government.

Tsipras won parliamentary backing for the tough bailout programme last week by a comfortable margin despite a large-scale rebellion among members of his ruling leftwing Syriza party, nearly one-third of whose 149 MPs either voted against the deal or abstained. Syriza governs in a coalition with the rightwing, anti-austerity party Independent Greeks (Anel).

The revolt by hardliners angry at what they view as a betrayal of the party’s pledge to fight austerity left Tsipras short of the 120 votes he would need – two-fifths of the 300-seat assembly – to survive a censure motion and he was widely expected to call a confidence vote this week or next.

He has now decided to skip that step, deciding instead to go straight to the country in an attempt to silence rebels and shore up public support for the draconian three-year bailout programme, which entails a radical overhaul of the Greek economy including further tax hikes, spending cuts and major reforms of health, welfare, pensions and taxation.

Tsipras appears to have calculated that it was better to call the elections early, before the effects of the new bailout measures – including further pension cuts, VAT increases and a “solidarity” tax on incomes – started to make themselves felt.

Some analysts had suggested he might wait until early October, by which time Greece’s creditors would have carried out their first review of the country’s progress in meeting the bailout conditions and perhaps come to a decision about debt relief – potentially a major electoral asset for the prime minister.

Under Greece’s complex constitutional laws, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos cannot immediately call an election if Tsipras resigns, but must first consult the other major parties to see if they could form a government – a near impossibility given the current parliamentary arithmetic.

At the end of a bruising seven months of negotiations with Greece’s international creditors, the prime minister eventually signed up to a deal that many in his party view as a U-turn on the anti-austerity platform that swept it to power in elections last January.

Tsipras has insisted that accepting creditor demands for further tough reforms was the only way to ensure his country remains in the eurozone, which is a key demand among the electorate according to opinion polls.

Syriza is now thought likely to formally split. The leader of its dissident Left Platform, the former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, announced last week he intended to form a new anti-bailout movement, accusing the government of capitulating to the “dictatorship of the eurozone”.

The prime minister’s closest aides had said on Thursday that the divisions within Syriza had to be dealt with one way or another. The energy minister, Panos Skourletis, told state broadcaster ERT: “The political landscape must clear up. We need to know whether the government has or does not have a majority.”

The party is now thought likely to call an extraordinary congress in September to resolve its internal differences.

Recent opinion polls have put support for Syriza at around 33-34%, making it by far the country’s most popular party – but not popular enough to govern without a coalition partner. No polls have been published since then, but Syriza insiders remain optimistic.

Dimitris Papadimoulis, a Syriza MEP, told Mega TV: “These elections, whenever they are announced by the government, will provide a stable governing solution. My feeling is that Syriza will have an absolute majority.”

The political uncertainty was taking its toll on markets, with the Athens Stock Exchange down 2.8% in afternoon trading.

Analyst Evangelos Sioutis, who is the head of equities at Guardian Trust Securities, said: “The Greek stock market is coming into a new circle of uncertainty while we are waiting for new elections to be announced. For the stock markets, it is a factor of uncertainty.”

'Famine for millions': fears over growing Yemen food crisis

THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2015
Half a million Yemeni children are suffering from "severe malnutrition", the UN's World Food Programme warns, as fears grow the country is heading towards famine.

The Yemeni conflict, between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on one side and forces loyal to the government Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, tribal groups and a Saudi-led coalition on the other, has been raging since March.

We are being forced to live like rats.Abu Ibrahim, Yemeni resident

Before the conflict began, Yemen already had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said.

But the "perfect storm" cause by the conflict, of a lack of food, clean water and fuel, means Yemen is facing the prospect of a "famine for millions".

'Famine for Millions' Fears Over Growing Yemen Food Crisis by Thavam Ratna

Drug resistance to antibiotics in Britain

by  Victor Cherubim

( August 19, 2015, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Soon there will be new rules for prescription of antibiotics for patients suffering ordinary colds, cough and infections in Britain. The Health Watchdog wants the General Medical Council, to take some action. Antibiotics that General Medical Practitioners (G.P’s) have prescribed for these ailments are making patients becoming immune to antibiotics, fuelling a rise in drug resistance bugs. How much of a risk, only time will tell?

As 10 million of the 41.6 million antibiotic prescriptions dished out by GP’s in a year we are told are unnecessary, pressure is mounting on GP surgeries to resist pestering patients demanding antibiotics. Some 9 out of 10 GP’s feel under pressure to prescribe them to satisfy their patients. According to medical research some 97 percent of patients who now ask for antibiotics treatment are prescribed them.

Who needs a Doctor to find out what’s wrong with a patient?

The way illness is diagnosed we know is changing. Monitoring health with smart phones, apps or wearable devices, is the order of the day. Instead of merely tracking lifestyle indicators, such as sleep quality, diet and physical activity, these so called devices will, we are informed, deliver medical advice and diagnosis. We are at the threshold of a new era in medicine, made possible by advances in physical intelligence and wireless sensing. Medical information data is “enabled” to be stored and shared with not only the medical profession but also life insurance companies and other interested parties. Could they do more harm than good?

The pharmaceutical business

On the other side of the coin, we hear of the progress in pharmaceutical laboratories   which are the cutting edge of medical research. Not a day passes that we hear of drug discovery. Simultaneously, the cost of this culture makes it necessary for Pharmaceutical Companies to send out high powered Sales Rep’s to literally “hard sell” their drugs on research hungry GP’s to prescribe their brand of antibiotics to patients at surgeries. Hardly do we hear of the visits to Doctor’s surgeries by these “nice men” who hand out samples of their antibiotics for GP’s “to try out on patients” after clinical trials.

The fast drugs for fast cure?

For far too long – over nearly six odd years – we have lived off antibiotics. It has become ingrained in medicine as a fast cure. Who cares about medical ethics if these antibiotics can be used for immunisation? However, medical research maintains it is only in the past 15 years that over prescription of antibiotics has become a “bit of a problem”.

The general public has always wanted fast cure and GP’s have found it easy to satisfy their patients. Now with drug resistance both the patients and GP’s are having second thoughts. But Doctors are excusing themselves for over prescription by admitting that it takes time for their messages to their patients to penetrate.

Cost of Antibiotics to NHS

It is always when cost comes into the frame that ethics is adhered to? The cost of antibiotic prescriptions has now reached £192 million to the National Health Service.

The Conservative Government of David Cameron is all the while on the look out to cut costs. Whether it is political correctness or otherwise it is maintained that where and when necessary antibiotics have to be prescribed to needy patients. But as some infections can no longer be effectively treated by antibiotics, it is a window of opportunity for the cost cutters.

Treatment of disease

We are fortunate in Sri Lanka to have alternative medicine in Ayurvedic medicine and herbal treatments for the treatment of common disease, beside the use of Western medicine, when and where necessary.

Disease and the spread of disease is on the increase. Overuse of any drug, antibiotics or other is not to be recommended because of the hidden side effects of all “specialist drugs.” We know that pain killers perform a useful service for chronic illness. But in the extreme case of a GP prescribing say “Amitripolene” for certain patients with chronic illness, the side effects of this drug is severe hallucination. Similarly, pain killers perform a limited service, but they can be harmful to life if overused, and drug dependent, similar to antibiotics.

Immediate relief, immediate satisfaction

We live in a world conditioned to immediate relief and/or immediate satisfaction. In the world of Ayurvedic medicine, there is said to be no immediate cure. This is because the treatment of disease takes time and herbal remedies supplement and work with the human body’s own defence mechanism to eradicate the ailment. Who says this is not ethical medicine?

We need society’s change in attitudes towards the use of, or rather overuse not only of antibiotics but of any medicine. Meanwhile, we in Sri Lanka could do well to take a lesson regarding the drug resistance of all antibiotics.

WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER OPT FOR A C-SECTION (AND THE DANGERS OF HAVING ONE)

August 14, 2015 

Many women are in favor of C-Sections these days. The statistics are showing that many women have either gotten one or will get one in the future. In the period between 1996 and 2009 C-Sections increased by 60%, but for the first time after many years, the cesarean deliveries have leveled and didn’t increase.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a non-profit women’s health care advocacy group was credited for the curbing of the upward trend. Back in 2009, the group released the public health campaign in order to divert the physicians and expecting mothers from implementing unneeded c-sections.

C-Sections are not that safe as you think and they can be riskier than the traditional vaginal births. During this method you are vulnerable to bacteria which rapidly raise your risk of being affected by an infection. It can also contribute to excessive bleeding, blood lumps and even death.

It is also exhausting process for your body. The body needs one or two weeks for recovery after the traditional vaginal birth, while the c-section recovery can last more than a month. But, what is more important is that the c-section can cause complications in your future pregnancies. According to the latest research conducted by the ACOG, women with a cesarean delivery have a higher risk of placenta implantation issues, uterine rupture, bladder and bowel injuries, a second cesarean delivery and the need for hysterectomy.

The statistics are showing that around 31% of the births in the USA in the period between 2009 and 2012 were cesarean deliveries. There isn’t any information how many of them were medically required, so it is assumed that 8% of them were avoidable.

Why They Became So Popular

It is known that cesarean deliveries come with the complications mentioned above…so what is the main reason for the rapid rise in the period between 1996 and 2009? One reason is that cesarean delivery lead to another cesarean delivery. If a woman already gave birth via cesarean, giving birth to a second child in the traditional vaginal way is riskier. Doctors are very careful when it comes to risky procedures, both out of fear of hurting the mother, and out of fear of lawsuits. The journal Obstetrics and Gynecology released a study which showed that 29% of obstetrician college members noted that they did more cesareans in order to avoid any problems with the law.

Another cause is convenience- for both the mother and the doctor. Women often decide to have c-sections scheduled when their family is around in order to assist them in the first several days. The statistics are showing that the c-sections are usually implemented on Fridays in the period between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. What you need to know is that some doctors recommend inducing labor in order to avoid spending their nights and weekends waiting for the baby to come.

When a C-Section is Your Best Bet

There are some cases when the cesarean delivery is required in order to be avoided any complications that may affect the health of the mother or the baby. This decision is made by you and your doctor. The ACOG notes that you are a true candidate for c-section if:

• You are carrying twins and they’re small or improperly positioned
• You don’t have strong contractions and your baby couldn’t be moved
• The umbilical cord is depleted or compressed
• The baby suffers from an abnormal heart rate
• There is a problem with the placenta
• The baby is too big or breech
• You are infected with an STI that could infect your baby
• You are a diabetic patient, which can result with bigger baby
• You suffer from increased blood pressure, which can result with preeclamsia, a dangerous condition that can harm your organs and can be only healed by childbirth (which is why an early-term c-section may be required)

The Bottom Line

Macrones recommends that you should have a vaginal birth if you can. With this method of birth, you will recover quicker and you will experience lower rate of infection. So, keep in mind that you should consult with your doctor if you can give birth vaginally before any decisions about the c-section. Be careful with the doctors who recommend c-section- particularly if you are young and don’t have any health problems.

Source: http://www.fhfn.org/

The Bottom Line If you can have a vaginal birth safely, you should, says Macrones. When you give birth the natural way, you face a lower rate of infection and will experience a faster recovery—so you can hit the ground running as a new mom. So before you sign off on a c-section, you should ask your doctor if you can give birth vaginally. Be wary of doctors who encourage c-sections right off the bat—especially if you’re young and relatively healthy.