Black Spots Appeared on Her Hand, and What Came Out of Them is More Than Disgusting

If red or black bleeding spots suddenly appear on your hands, face, or neck, do not panic. They aren’t infectious, and they aren’t cancer, either. They are a relatively common skin disorder that can easily be treated at home. However, it is best to get a professional diagnosis before proceeding with treatment.

 25nd January 2016 

Pyogenic Granuloma
Pyogenic granuloma, also called lobular capillary hemangioma, is a benign disorder of the vasculature of the skin. The most common manifestation of pyogenic granuloma, found in children and young adults, is a solitary red nodule that appears on the hands, face, neck, or upper trunk. Some people develop several lesions located near each other. The lesions grow rapidly after appearance, to reach their full size in a matter of weeks, after which they stop growing. The average diameter is 6.5 mm, but cases of lesions as large as 25 cm have been reported. A variant of the condition that often affects pregnant women occurs in the tissues lining the mouth. In some rare cases, multiple lesions can appear all over the hands, arms, and trunk. The lesions easily break open and bleed, and therefore, can turn into black, crusty ulcerated lesions.

Causes
Other than lesions that develop during pregnancy, the cause of pyogenic granuloma is unclear. Many lesions seem to occur at the sites of prior trauma. Some experts speculate that trauma stimulates an abnormal angiogenesis pathway, inducing the production of large numbers of abnormal capillaries at the site. Some patients being treated with anti-cancer or antiviral drugs develop pyogenic granulomas.

Who Gets Them?
These lesions are most common in children around the age of six, and in adults in their 20s. They affect around 0.5% of pregnancies. However, they may arise in individuals of any age.

Prognosis
Once they have reached their full size, the lesions stop growing. They do not cause any other health problems. However, they can be unsightly, and their predilection for spontaneous bleeding can significantly impair quality of life. If left untreated, eventually, after 8 to 12 months, they will regress and shrink. However, they often recur at the same or a nearby site.

Home Treatment
The most effective home remedy is silver nitrate. Silver nitrate is a natural compound commonly use to fight infections. Silver nitrate sticks or creams can be purchased online or at many health food stores. If using a stick, gently press the stick against the lesion for 1 to 2 minutes every other day. If using cream, apply cream to the site daily. The lesion will immediately turn black and start to slowly slough off. It may ooze significantly and bleed during this process, but after about 2 weeks it should be completely gone.

Some people have found that applying apple cider vinegar or garlic to the lesion is quite effective. If using apple cider vinegar, apply a soaked cloth to the area for 20 minutes per day. If using garlic, cut a small slice of garlic and use a bandage to hold the garlic to the lesion overnight, every night, until the lesion regresses. Alternatively, flaxseed mixed with honey can be substituted for the garlic.

Don’t Forget To Share With Your Friends And Family On Facebook, As You Might Help Someone In Need!

Army Commander In A Soup?

• Prageeth Eknaligoda Dissappearence Case

By Nirmala Kannangara- Sunday, January 24, 2016

Prageeth Eknaligoda and Sandya Eknaligoda

Army Commander Major General Chrishantha de Silva (A. W. J. C. De Silva) who was appointed as the 21st Commander of the Sri Lanka Army effective from February 22, 2015, is likely to face legal action for his alleged failure to cooperate with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over the investigations into the disappearance of senior journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

The CID, it is learnt, has sought the Attorney General’s (AG) opinion to take action against De Silva and is waiting for AG’s recommendations for further action. When the CID on an earlier occasion in August last year wanted to arrest two Lieutenant Colonels in connection to the disappearance of Eknaligoda, De Silva and the then Defence Secretary had reportedly opposed the CID’s move strongly, claiming that the accused were involved in winning the country’s three decade war. Recently, it was revealed as to how Army Commander Chrishantha de Silva together with the Head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, S. Salley, along with Lt. Colonel Mahathanthila had attempted to get Senior State Counsel Dileepa Peiris appearing in the Eknaligoda case removed, allegedly to help the Eknaligoda murder suspects obtain bail.

“This Senior State Counsel, who has left no stone unturned to unearth the truth, vehemently opposed any move to release the suspected army officials on bail. It is alleged that the Army Commander has used his good office to influence to get the Senior State Counsel replaced with another State Counsel whom they believe would help them obtain bail for the suspects. In addition to the Army Commander’s attempt, Wimal Weerawansa’s National Freedom Front and Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero’s Bodu Bala Sena movement (which is known for their extreme anti-Muslim views) have strongly opposed the arrest of the former military intelligence sleuths over Eknaligoda’s disappearance,” reliable CID sources said on conditions of anonymity. It was also reported that when Eknaligoda case was taken up at the Homagama Magistrate’s Court in mid-December last year, former Media Spokesman and UPFA Parliamentarian Keheliya Rambukwella who was present at the hearing had later told that UPFA dissident (i.e. Joint Opposition) MPs had decided to donate their MP salaries to the families of the arrested military intelligence unit members. Although the Army Commander made attempts to get the Senior State Counsel appearing for the case removed, acting Attorney General Dr. Suhada Gamlath had reportedly turned down the request claiming such actions will not be resorted to at the Attorney General’s Department. Meanwhile Sandya Eknaligoda alleged that the suspected military intelligence unit members had been receiving ‘right royal’ treatment in prison. “When the Homagama Magistrate asked from where these suspects were brought, the prison official who accompanied the accused said that they were brought from the prison hospital. The Magistrate said that although the Court cannot ask these accused not to be placed at the prison hospital if they are really sick.                                          Read More »

A Special Day To Remember Sugitharajah And Why He Was Murdered

By Johan Mikaelsson –January 24, 2016

Johan Mikaelsson

Sri Lanka’s calendar is full of reminiscences from the bloody years. January is a month to remember the targeted killings of journalists under the previous government’s supervision. Impunity for these crimes against democracy prevails.

In February attention is on independence, which opened up the doors for ethnical strife, in May it’s the end of the war, in ‘Black July’ the race riots against Tamils, ​​and in November Tamil families remember their dead guerrillas.

January is the month that most clearly is associated with violence against journalists. January 8, 2009 Lasantha Wickrematunge, the Sunday Leader’s brave editor was killed. He lives on as an icon of the struggle for press freedom. He is and remains “unafraid and unbowed”, the newspaper’s motto.

Today, January 24, 2006, ten years ago Subramaniyam Sugitharajah was shot dead in Trincomalee. He was an ambitious and talented journalist for the Tamil daily Sudar Oli, and he also worked as a labourer at the port to support his family. Sugitharajah had gained popularity among the readership for his articles. Above all he was a 35 year-old married man and a father of two.

Sugitharajah

In 2005, the situation in Trincomalee constantly deteriorated. This culminated January 2, 2006, when five 20-year old Tamil students were shot dead by soldiers in the middle of the city. The military and state media tried, as usually at this time, to spread disinformation. The young men were falsely accused of having died of an explosion while they were preparing an attack against government soldiers.

Sugitharajah along with a young colleague was able to get into the morgue to photograph the dead boys, all with bullet wounds in the head. The portrait images published on the newspaper’s front page was not lying. It was a drastic editorial decision — according to the Sudar Oli Editor Nadesapillai Vithyatharan it was the only way to get the truth out.

The following Sunday Iqbal Athas had an in-depth description of the events in his Situation Report in The Sunday Times. The Sunday Leader also carried a story. Soon, even more detailed reports came out and the Toronto based Tamil journalist D.B.S Jeyaraj wrote lengthy articles with a thorough documentation of the chain of events. The military and the government media’s attempts to cover-up failed.

There had been too many witnesses. The entire area where it all took place was being sealed-off by the military. All lights were suddenly out, and the entire neighbourhood was pitch-black. The father of one of the boys had pleaded with the soldiers in vain to be let through. Hundreds of people could hear the young people’s cries for mercy, and then the fatal shots. Two young men miraculously survived. They, as well as family members can and still want to testify. The families opposed strongly when the army and the state media pointed to their sons as ‘LTTE terrorists’. The following days Trincomalee residents rallied behind them in mass protests.

A cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Colombo later came out through Wikileaks. It revealed that the Presidents’ brother and Economical advisor Basil Rajapaksa had said that he and the government knew that the soldiers from the Special Task Force (STF), a special force within police, had committed the deed. But the soldiers had used other automatic weapons than their ordinary ones and could therefore not be legally bound. It was of course a lame excuse for not going to the bottom.  Read More

Sri Lankan Attorneys’ Letters not Credible: British HC

24/01/2016 

An officer of the British High Commission in Colombo has written to the Home Office in Britain, claiming that a vast majority of endorsement documents provided by Sri Lankan attorneys in support of local asylum seekers were “not credible.”

This conclusion has been drawn after the migration division of the British High Commission in Colombo checked 80 asylum cases referred to it by the Asylum Casework Directorate and Appeals and Litigation in Britain. Thirty of the cases included attorney endorsement documents, either in the form of letters or credentials (qualifications or membership documents).

Of these 30 cases, “the vast majority (86.7%) of letters provided by Sri Lankan attorneys that we have verified are not credible,” states the communication to the Home Office by Second Secretary (Migration) of the British High Commission in Colombo. “This includes 23% attorney letters, 20% of attorney credentials, 30% other documents submitted though attorneys were not contactable and 13% of attorney letters were suspicious.”

The Sunday Times has seen a copy of the letter. We asked the British High Commission why a relatively small sample was used to make a blanket assertion on all Sri Lankan attorneys. A spokesperson replied: “The context of the letter is very clear. This is about a very specific issue. It is in no way a statement about the assertions of all Sri Lankan lawyers, and the preceding text makes that readily apparent.”

“The text referred to is a breakdown of investigated cases. There were seven cases where the attorney confirmed they had written the letter stating that there was a live court case or arrest warrant. But when verified separately with the police stations or courts that purportedly issued these warrants, they were found to be false,” the officer writes to the Home Office. These documents included six arrest warrants and one receipt of arrest.In four cases, attorneys confirmed the letters had been written by them, but there were no other documents provided to verify. “In these cases, the credibility of the attorney is questionable, as we found several discrepancies in a copy he produced compared with the original letter submitted in the UK,” the officer states.

There were six cases where the attorney’s credentials were found to be false (four Attorneys-at-Law certificates and two Bar Association memberships). Eleven attorneys were not contactable, “despite repeated attempts to verify the letters saying that there were live court cases or arrest warrants for their clients”. In one of these cases, there was no other documentation submitted.

In nine of these cases, the other documents submitted (court documents or arrest warrants) “were verified as false through direct checks with the courts or police stations that purportedly issued them”. In only one of the 11 cases were the supporting court or police documents genuine.

In just two of the cases, the attorney confirmed the letters were not issued by him, the officer observes. The British High Commission in Colombo did not provide details of the lawyers, such as names, despite a request for them. It also did not answer who these asylum seekers were and from where.

Questions were met with standard replies from the Home Office such as: “The United Kingdom has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection, and all claims are carefully considered on their individual merits”.
It also said all asylum decision-making staff receive basic training in forgery and handling documents; that document examination forms part of the standard security checks in all cases; and that any evidence of forgery will be considered when deciding asylum claims”.
ST

Wigneswaran Triggers an Acrimonious ‘Ethnic Debate’

It is intriguing how people are obsessed with ‘history’ and ready to inflame emotions on the basis of their ‘bigoted history,’ from both sides of the divide. It is my view that those who do so belong to a particular social milieu (‘the bigoted leisure classes’ I may say) and not the suffering general masses. Both or the obviously ‘contradictory versions’ of history cannot be true. History of the ancient past should be taken with equanimity today. Most important is to place our history in the broader context of human history.

by Laksiri Fernando

( January 24, 2016, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) On 19 January a seminar had been held in Jaffna organized by the Swiss Institute for Federalism of Fribourg, Switzerland, on the invitation of the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran. The local partner of the seminar was the Institute for Constitutional Studies (ICS) in Colombo. When the Chief Minister’s opening address was published in the Colombo Telegraph (20 January 2016), a rather acrimonious debate ensured in the form of comments and counter-comments.

To be fair by the Swiss Institute, it should be stated that it is not an institute which advocates federalism for other countries, but believes that ‘increasingly countries are incorporating elements of federalism into their structures in response to recent demands for increased regional autonomy and independence.’ Their focus is much wider and the following appears as the first paragraph of their ‘About Us.’

“The Institute of Federalism is recognised both nationally and internationally as a centre of expertise in the field of governance. For nearly 30 years the Institute has been producing academic analyses of the responsibilities which lie with a government and of the conflicts of interest it faces in performing its tasks. These include fulfilling the duties of a government in line with needs but economically, acting in accordance with democratic legitimacy, taking the different sections of society into account and protecting the rights of individuals and minorities.”

The Institute is attached to the Faculty of Law of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

 Full Story>>>

Govt. launches two pronged diplomatic offensive ahead of UN Rights chiefs visit

Confident compromise mechanism to investigate war crimes can be worked out
Minority communities’ human rights to be protected

Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein-

by Zacki  Jabbar-January 23, 2016, 6:39 pm 

In the run up to the UN Human Rights Commissioner Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein’s scheduled visit to Sri Lanka prior to the June deadline that  his organization has set for Sri Lanka  to  establish an independent domestic mechanism to investigate war crimes allegations, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has launched a diplomatic offensive aimed at both the local and international community.

The local initiative came in the form of President Maithripala Sirisena’s comments to the BBC last Thursday that he was apposed to foreign interference in his administration’s preparations to conduct an independent domestic probe into accusations of serious human rights violations against the security forces and the LTTE   especially during the final stages of the war which ended with the defeat of the LTTE on May 18, 2009.

On the diplomatic front, targeting the international community, the government last Thursday agreed during the first meeting of the Working Group on Good Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights under the European Union-Sri Lanka Joint Commission held in Colombo, that priority needed to be given to the full implementation of the October 2015  UN Human Rights Council  resolution on accountability issues in  Sri Lanka.

Government sources said that in the light of comments made by the British Deputy Foreign Minister Hugo Swire in Colombo last week that Sri Lanka could, where it thought fit, seek international assistance to conduct a speedy war crimes inquiry aimed at ensuring closure for the disappeared and also reparations, a compromise investigative mechanism to ensure justice for all those affected could be worked out.

At the EU- Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting there had been an exchange of views on ongoing consultations on the establishment of domestic reconciliation and accountability mechanisms with the EU having  expressed its readiness to continue supporting Sri Lanka "in this process and to identify together the needs and opportunities for assistance."

 It,had also stressed on the  importance of addressing  human rights issues, including sexual and gender based violence, torture and protection of persons belonging to minority groups as well as the need to  combat corruption.

 Challenges on issues such as freedom of expression and media, strengthening of civil society, rights of women and children, rights of minorities, labour rights, migration, implementation of the treaty obligations and the rule of law had also figured in the Working Groups discussions. 

The two sides had agreed on a series of  follow up actions at the next Joint Commission Meeting  to be held later this  year in Brussels.

 The  meeting of the Working Group followed the 19th Session of the European Union-Sri Lanka Joint Commission held in April 2015, in Colombo. The forum provides for regular and structured bilateral engagement under the EU-Sri Lanka Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development of 1995.

The European Union delegation was led by the Head of  the Asia and Pacific Department, Paola Pampaloni, while the Sri Lanka delegation was led by the  Director General for European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs A.L.A. Azeez.

An Entente Cordiale In Sri Lankan Politics?

By Emil van der Poorten –January 24, 2016

Emil van der Poorten

When one sees what is going on in the matter of endless parades of prominent and not so prominent people to the multiplicity of investigating/inquiring bodies set up by the Maithripala Sirisena/Ranil Wickremesinghe (MR2) government and the total absence of anything resembling prosecutions coming out of these investigations/inquiries, the question that I have posed as the heading of this column seems almost redundant.

I have in the days that the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime (MR1) ruled all of Sri Lanka and, like “Britannia,” the waves around it subsequently, referred to that Maximum Leader’s chosen modus operandi, whenever something contentious arose. He let all of his “spokespersons” and goodness knows he had some to spare in that category, express views that ranged from the proverbial soup to nuts. He then held up the metaphorical whetted finger to the breeze, decided which one suited a dispensation that was distinguished by its total and absolute lack of policy or principle and claimed it as the “official” version.

Sound familiar?

It should, because that is increasingly becoming the rule with the Maithripala/Ranil government (MR2) whose pattern of public pronouncements bears an eerie similarity to what went before. The Avante Garde fiasco in public relations if not in bringing to book those attempting to set up a private army and navy is only one case in point. Here we have a widely bandied-about accusation that probably the most lily-livered of the MR2 gang,Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the MINISTER OF JUSTICE, no less, has played a very interesting role in the matter of a part of the Rajapaksa Royal Family seeking to set up their own private armed force with both a maritime and land wing and the “investigations” that followed. Political talk is cheap and wild accusations even more modestly priced in this country. However, the matter of setting up private armies a la the George “Dubya” Bush model Black Watch in Iraq, is nothing new. In fact, I wrote at some length some years ago about this whole sinister exercise. That journalistic effort seemed only to raise the threat level against me at the time. However, the shilly-shallying by MR2 in investigating this continuing menace, is beyond explanation. At least those who believed that MR2 would, even in minimalist mode, do “something” to prosecute those responsible have to be bitterly disappointed.                                     Read More

Government Accused Of Rolling Back On Commitment In Geneva

Sunday, January 24, 2016

The International Truth and Justice Project is deeply concerned that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena appears to be rolling back on his commitment in Geneva to include international involvement in a future judicial mechanism.

In an interview with the BBC last week, the President reportedly stated, “I will never agree to international involvement in this matter”.

This flies in the face of the recommendation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that Sri Lankan establish “an ad hoc hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators”. High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, who is due to visit Sri Lanka shortly, has been very clear about the “total failure of domestic mechanisms to conduct credible investigations” in Sri Lanka.

“The High Commissioner is right: international involvement is essential for victims and witnesses to have trust in the justice process because Sri Lanka has such a long history of failed domestic processes,” said ITJP Executive Director Yasmin Sooka.

ITJP is also shocked that the President should question that crimes took place after the detailed and graphic revelations of the year-long OHCHR Investigation, as well as reports by many other credible international and Sri Lankan organisations.  ITJP notes the BBC reported that President Sirisena said, “It was important to determine whether such crimes actually took place”.

“This is an insult to the thousands of victims and witnesses who testified to the UN inquiry and other bodies,” said Yasmin Sooka, adding, “It’s rather late in the day to question whether crimes took place”.

President Sirisena also suggested in his BBC interview that because the UN did not specify names of alleged perpetrators, there was some doubt about the allegations.

“Just because the UN decided from the outset not to mention names of alleged perpetrators does not mean they do not have such information.  It is usual for an UN inquiry not to disclose the names but to hand this over to a credible prosecutorial body when established. Quite frankly enough evidence exists already for a tribunal, if it’s run in a way that protects witnesses,” said Ms. Sooka. President Sirisena also dismissed reports that the Sri Lankan security forces have continued to abduct, torture and sexually violate Tamil detainees during his period in office. He said such reports came from people “close to the Tamil Tigers”.

ITJP documented twenty such cases that occurred in 2015, while Freedom From Torture has an additional 7 cases that do not overlap.

“It is disappointing to see the new President defame all those who allege there are still ongoing violations as linked to the LTTE”, said Ms. Sooka, “this is the sort of rhetoric and denial we’d hoped would change.”

ITJP is a South African based project investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2015: DECLINE ON ALL FRONTS

THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2015.

The Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index ranks the performance of 180 countries according to a range of criteria that include media pluralism and independence, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists, and the legislative, institutional and infrastructural environment in which the media operate.

Top of the list, as so often, are three Scandinavian countries: Finland, which has been in first place for five years in succession, followed by Norway and Denmark. At the other end of the scale,Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, in last place, were the worst performers. France is ranked 38th (up one place), the United States 49th (down three places), Japan 61st (down two places),Brazil 99 (up 12 places), Russia 152 (down four places), Iran 173rd (unchanged) and China 176th (down one place).

The 2015 World Press Freedom Index highlights the worldwide deterioration in freedom of information in 2014. Beset by wars, the growing threat from non-state operatives, violence during demonstrations and the economic crisis, media freedom is in retreat on all five continents.

The indicators compiled by Reporters Without Borders are incontestable. There was a drastic decline in freedom of information in 2014. Two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed for the 2015 World Press Freedom Index performed less well than in the previous year. The annual global indicator, which measures the overall level of violations of freedom of information in 180 countries year by year, has risen to 3,719, an 8 percent increase over 2014 and almost 10 percent compared with 2013. The decline affected all continents.

Indices 2015 EN

 Read More

A long view of constitution making

The things people first wrote down

by Kumar David-January 23, 2016, 4:42 pm 

Hard determinists say that leaders of the day cannot shape history; they, like the rest of us, are adrift on a sea of titanic waves. This is going too far; to a degree men do make their destiny, though not under conditions of their choosing but under "circumstances existing and transmitted from the past which hang like a nightmare on the brains of the living". Tamil extremists say that RW and MS are no different from Sinhala racists and deep-down do not wish to concede anything to Tamils. This is not true; a rancid cancer eats the soul of racists but it is false to metastasise this to RW/MS. However, neither do I go along with butter-won’t-melt-in-their-mouth liberals who fail to recognise that RW/MS and their ilk are afraid; afraid of a chauvinist backlash and lack the political equipment and confidence in the ability of the people to confront and defeat proto-fascist racism. Mobilisation is the last word in their lexicon.

If national leaders lack the guts to tell racism ‘Four-letter off, or suffer a broken nose’, they will repeatedly retreat in the face of the bigots. Let’s begin with four items that I fear will be built into the new constitution. Secularism will be spurned and Buddhism will facto endure as state religion; the state will continue to be defined as "unitary"; Sinhala-Only with "reasonable squealing" in Tamil will remain the formal norm; devolution will be evaded and federalism eschewed, but to give the devil its due as much regional administrative space as can be smuggled in without wetting pants/national dress will be inserted. There will be needless constraints on the space for the North and East to administer themselves, not because the government is racist, but because it funks racists. This, lovely ladies and kind gentlemen, is the plain unvarnished truth. Now, am I too harsh or are they wisely pragmatic; you decide.

Ministerial cowardice and Cabinet confusion are manifest in a report in the Island of 16 January; "Cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne reiterated that the process will be a domestic process and not a hybrid process as proposed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights". The PM on the other hand steadfastly assures the world that Lanka will live up to the undertakings it gave in Geneva.

If a majority of the vast majority, meaning most Sinhalese who make up 75% of the population, are moved to spill blood than countenance change in the four die-hard constitutional blots referred to in the previous paragraph, then they won’t be changed. QED! Try making Saudi Arabia or Israel secular and riots and disorder will engulf the land. Tweak the antediluvian monarchy in Thailand and be eviscerated while the populace cheers. So don’t waste time with the undoable; politics as we are so often told is the art of the possible. Though Obama is the most intellectual US president since Woodrow Wilson and the most inspiring orator since Lincoln, his presidency has achieved little. It ran aground on an immovable rock, an elected Congress. The Obama presidency could NOT have achieved much more than it did.

                  Read more...

SriLankan Airlines: Flight Attendants Union All Set To Implode

January 24, 2016

The non representation of the Executive Committee of the Flight Attendants Union of Sri Lankan Airlines in defence of their seventeen cabin crew members said to be terminated, may have been a calculated ploy.

“What subsequently transpired is that the very group supposed to defend their cabin crew cadre has been exposed as those masquerading illegally as union officials since last December”, a union member told Colombo Telegraph on condition of anonymity.

“Factually we are currently legally not being represented as the Executive Committee of the FAU which was summoned to be present at a meeting along with all other airline Union Representatives by the Chairman Ajit Dias, failed to turn up as they were not an elected body” our source revealed.

Other inside sources from within the In Flight Services Department also revealed that the group did not attend the Chairman’s meeting as legally an email is not sufficient means to summon the FAU for a meeting. It is stated that the FAU was playing the silent card and that a letter sent through registered post is the legal means to summon them for any official meeting.

The Jayaratne / Weliamuna report which stayed dormant for over eight months has now being re-ignited and those that fearlessly came out speak on the assurance that they would be protected have now lost faith in speaking in the open. Hence many quotes provided are on condition of anonymity as the national carrier’s employees are also barred from speaking to the media.

Read More

A Clear Indictment On Sri Lanka Police

• 752 complaints against the police in three months

by Camelia Nathaniel-Sunday, January 24, 2016

‘Not a day goes by without reports of police officers overstepping the
bounds of the Constitution’

The National Police Commission (NPC) has so far received 752 complaints against the police from October 21, 2015 to date. According to the secretary of the NPC, N. Ariyadasa Cooray, as and when they receive these complaints the NPC calls for a report from the police.

“Currently these reports are being processed, and we are geared to conduct the investigation into these cases. First of all, we have to call for reports from the police, and they may have started preparing these reports already, and I believe that 60 to 70 per cent of the reports are being gathered. We have 9 provincial offices and the complaints received are from the entire island,” he added.

According to Cooray, 60-70 per cent of the cases are complaints about partiality, abuse of power, and police inaction. He said the NPC members had met for a discussion on Friday and were categorising these complaints.

Of over 700 complaints received so far, the latest incidents reported was a youth who had allegedly been killed by police in Embilipitiya.

The following incidents are cautionary tales for anyone who still thinks that they can defy police officers without deadly repercussions, even if it is simply to disagree about a speeding ticket, challenge a search warrant, or defend oneself against an unreasonable or unjust charge. The message they send is that “we, the people”, have very little protection from the police.

                                               Read More »

The crisis of the Medical education and Sri Lankan Health Sector -Migrant’s Column

(Lanka-e-News -24.Jan.2016, 9.30PM) The students of the faculty of medicine at Ragama and Karapitiya have started a strike and if I am correct they are heading for the hunger strike. I am not going to state the issue that triggered them for the strike. In fact there is no issue at all to justify the wild behavior of these students. My essay is directly address the prime minister, minister of health and the president of the Sri Lankan democratic state and any other relevant parties. By observing the developing trends, it can be seen that at the end these wild animals are going to win as it happened it in history. As a government, before you knee down in front of them, I urge you to reconsider the following facts in free mind. 

First, no country practice the so called free education like in Sri Lanka. In fact this is the time for the government to calculate the total expenditure invest on each university student particularly to rascal medical students and returned for the country. As we all may know, the government spend more than seven to eight million dollar for the each medical student. When they leave the medical faculty their job is guaranteed with reasonable salary and some other facilities including the vehicle. On top of that they are allowed to do private practice. I ask you to turn your attention to some other fact now. Have the government ever evaluated how many doctors have completed their service in remote areas and how frequently they have been transferred through the hospital. When they transfer for remote services how many of them cancel their transfer with political influence. Does the government have mechanism to oversee their working behavior and rectify when it is not accorded with the requirement. Have government ever conducted and evaluation about their income and assure that they repay the taxes? Does government know that doctors are the only professional category that have a certain quota and expenditure to provide the postgraduate training in European countries? Not even sri Lankan academics in arts and humanities have such foreign training under the government fund? How many of them have completed the training and how many of them returned to the country? What is the financial benefit of that traing to the Sri Lankan government? How much money government loose each year for the vehicle permit each year.  Finally, after having so many expenses by the public funds received from the innocent farmers and labourers of the country, how many of them migrate to countries like Australia and Canada? Once they migrate how the government loose by the each migrant and does government have mechanism to collect that money back.  How much money do we loose to foreign country for the medical education due to the lack of the facility in Sri Lanka to provide the medical education for other students. In contrast, how much money does the private medical schools save for the country? The list can be extended into several pages. The answer would be indeed unsatisfactory.

Second, in returned, have government ever evaluated and maintain the record of professional malpractices by the doctors. The writer engaged in a research project with the professor at a university in United Kingdom and we were looking at the issue of medical negligence in given time frame. If the people had read the report they will not believe in the uncertainty of their life encountering a doctor. Given the certain period of time, we could collect the evidence of more than hundred plus cases which was only reported in the news paper. Those are reported and unreported case may be more than that. To give you some hint, there were cases such as amputing the wrong leg or removing the wrong body parts, completing the operation leaving some tool such as scissors inside the body. In addition, you may have heard that sexual abuses against the pregnant mothers, girls and even for their labourers. How many times have we lost the hundred of lives due to their strikes for petty issues such as car permit?  Now my question is that either the so-called selfish medical council or the government of Sri lanka has ever taken an action against these issues? If not why?  No need to be ashamed, please spell out. The government is afraid of this rascal. Why my problem is the government have no mechanism to over see and control the so-called rascal.  But does it mean that we should waste our public funds on these heartless people and be victim of them. Government should have mechanism to protect the people from these types of rascal. If the government has no mechanism I would like to propose a kind of strategic suggestions and government can implement this without due course.  Most of these suggestions can be implemented for the forthcoming students to the medical faculty and will be practices in five years. Government will not have to worry about the existing doctors since our politics is limited only to our own benefit and does not bother about others.

In addition, these rascals are interfering to the development of alternative Sri Lankan medical practices. For example, do you know that these are the people who are opposing to the establishment of department of surgery at the faculty of Aurvedic medicine in university of Colombo? Simply who are these people to decide the appropriation of medical knowledge? Don’t these idiots know that western medicine is only a one tradition? How they gained so much power to control the knowledge of medical practices in the country? These are the critical questions government can address.  

* When the students admit to the medical faculty present a code of conduct and get the signature. Violation of one or more can be considered as criminal offense.. The agreement can include the following conditions.
* No medical student can involve with any ragging or ragging related issues which may result to loose the studentship (This can be useful to other university students as well)
* No medical faculty students can organize strikes that violate the rights of the genral public.
* The students who are leaving the faculty would not be guaranteed the job.
* All the students who are completing their studies must perform their service in remote are for five years and each ten year must return to the work in remote areas.
* If the newly appointed doctor wish to leave the country he or she should pay the cost of medical studies to the government (this can be arranged to pay in installment)
* All the newly recruited doctors will not entitle to vehicle permit. Instead government can give them a loan that settle with zero interest or lower interest (thus the government will not loose any money). This can be applied to the other professions those who entitle the vehicle permit (remember the writer itself is a senior lecture at Sri Lankan University system)

Apart from that government can set up a commission to investigate the malpractices of doctors and health related sectors. The commission should have a full power to investigate any matter related to the medical malpractices and command for the necessary bodies to take action against if proven. People of the country should have direct access to the commission and should have an ability to monitor the process

The government should encourage establishing more private medical schools under the government investment schemes and proliferate doctors across the country which may destroy the power of  the filed of medical field. I believe in that, when we see the plethora of doctors setting up their dispensaries under the trees like lawyers, there will not be any issue and everybody will compete to treat their patient like human beings. 

now this the time for the ministry of finance and the responsible department including the department bribery and corruption come to work together.  Do not forget the doctors now are the students who have been picketing and going through hunger strike last two decades. Government must come to the firm decision now. The so-called free education is not indeed free. It is the wealth of the nation. It is the wealth of the nation that has to be spent on so many other important issues including the transport and infrastructural development. Therefore, we urge the government, do not knee down in fro of this rascal. Let them to die in hunger if they wish because it is a social service indeed. If the government has no mechanism to stop these rascals, let them to die as they wish. Dear Mr. President, Mr Prime Minister and minister of health, do not let happen to the Malbae Medical school which was happen to Ragama some years ago. 

By a Migrant Intellectual. 

---------------------------
by     (2016-01-24 20:09:57)