The GMOA does not seem to really care that in its selfish pursuit of the best for themselves they are actually hurting the people of Sri Lanka whose tax money went into providing them with a free education that allowed them to become doctors. The more the

sician working in a major hospital here. This doctor had passed out of the Medical College in Colombo and worked for several years in Sri Lanka before moving to Britain.

While on holiday in Sri Lanka recently she had taken a relative to a private hospital for a consultation. She was shocked to find when they walked into the consultant’s room there were already two patients there. There was no privacy and the patient the doctor was examining had his medical details revealed before the other patients in the room.

This is the state of medical care in some of the private hospitals where consultants are more concerned with making sure of their fees and as quickly as possible, with cursory concern for the patients.

I know of an incident that occurred at a private hospital in Colombo some 40 years or so ago. To repeat that somewhat nauseating story might upset many. Some might not even believe it. This incident was reported on the front page of the Sunday Observer under “Talking Point”. I remember it well because I wrote it and a witness to what happened then lives to this day in Colombo.

The other two incidents mentioned above came to light recently. But the media in Sri Lanka have been replete with observations and commentaries about the unsavoury practices of some of our doctors attached to even state institutions which clearly indicate their propensity to serve mammon rather than man.

If one were to look at the litany of complaints over the years about the practices of some doctors and their preoccupation with wealth at the expense of the people one wonders whatever happened to that Hippocratic Oath which set out among other things the ethical conduct that those in the medical profession is expected to follow.

It may be that unlike in the past that oath has been deposited in the dustbin as newly passed-out medical graduates do not have to take it though morally they should abide by it.

Some say that to expect ethical conduct and an adherence to a moral code today from politicians down to some professionals and non-professionals be it the state or private sectors, is like expecting the sun to rise in the west.

Painting all doctors with the same brush would be to carry this too far. There are many responsible and dedicated doctors who put patients before self. One needs to be wary about damn- ing entire professions and groups of people because of the disgraceful conduct of some.

But in recent times we have heard or read of numerous ‘doings’ by individuals that bring their professions or vocations into disrepute. The problem is when a group of professionals act in concert and exert pressure on a government or an institution to concede demands that might be unfair by the rest of the community and is prejudicial to the well-being of people generally.

The current contretemps involving school places for the sons and daughters of government medical doctors is a case in point. If the rules and regulations adopted by the Education Ministry militate against a particular group of persons because they are subject to a different set of rules, then there is obviously a need to rationalise the systems so that nobody is penalised as a result of conflicting regulations.

If the children of doctors do not have schools it is the duty of the state to provide them places at that grade because education is compulsory up to a certain age.

The problem here is not a lack of schools to accommodate these children. The problem is over the demand that Grade One level children be provided with places in a select number of schools in Colombo and other principal towns.

If the children of government doctors are to be accommodated in a select number of schools, those in other professions or government sector employment have a right to ask why doctors should be given preferential treatment.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was correct when he said that one career path should not be considered more important than another. If the children of doctors get priority in the school placement process, it could well mean that other parents who probably have a better case to make on behalf of their children lose out.

That cannot be allowed to happen because doctors think they have a prior claim to the better schools. The answer of the doctors’ association is to use their profession as a weapon to brow- beat the government and hold the people hostage just as the LTTE before its ultimate demise. The GMOA has been increasingly using its medical role to confront governments on issues that are not directly relevant to its status as a trade union in the medical profession.

The GMOA does not seem to really care that in its selfish pursuit of the best for themselves they are actually hurting the people of Sri Lanka whose tax money went into providing them with a free education that allowed them to become doctors. The more the doctors go on strike causing a disruption in the work they should be doing and their duty to the people, the more the wrath of the people accumulates against them.

From their demands for duty- free cars, probably to travel from their State work- places to their places of private practice, to objecting to a trade deal with India, all the people see is a group of professionals that fatten themselves on the citizenry because self-aggrandizement is their goal.

No wonder then that some wag has termed the GMOA the Government Meddlesome Officers’ Association. Doubtless others have even more appropriate names to describe this agglomeration that has turned Hippocrates into hypocrisy.