Ban strikes by doctors, university students
In our day and age doctors ( prosperous members of a once noble profession) and university students ( unashamed adolescent dependents on public charity) have become strange bedfellows in launching d i s r u p t ive “strikes” that cause enormous suffering and inconvenience to the public.
The fact that doctors (by virtue of professional obligation) owe a debt of service to the millions who are sick and dying, and students (by virtue of their importunity) a debt of gratitude to the millions who pay for their education -only underline the absurdity of such strikes.
Unfortunately, Sri Lankans seem to have an amazing capacity to bow their heads and humbly endure such abuses however wicked and irrational by such groups who in pursuance of their selfish vested interests, particular ideological hang up, or political agenda don’t give a damn for the public interest.
One wonders whether deeply embedded in the psyche of the Sri Lankan masses is a primeval fatalism brought on by belief in Karma that makes them resigned to exploitation, on the basis that since bad things happen because they were destined to happen anyway there is nothing anyone can do about it. Otherwise one would expect that by now millions of Sri Lankans, fed to the teeth by their striking tormentors, would be crying “enough is enough” and calling for government action to in one way or another prohibit the scandal of strikes by doctors and students.
It is now clear that strikes by predatory doctors and university students have become a serious impediment to good governance, desirable reforms and the enforcement of order and discipline in the health and higher education sectors.
Doctors have repeatedly shown a diabolical tendency to use draconian trade union power in pursuance of a selfish agenda demanding unrealistic perks and privileges, while intimidating the government and interfering in matters of state policy that are completely outside their remit. Their protests over SAITM, ETCA and the budget proposals are recent examples of such arrogant abuse of power. The extraordinary power wielded by doctors enabling them to force the hand of governments to act against the public interest, derives from their freedom to strike at will and hold the public to ransom. The terrible hardships inflicted on the sick and suffering by striking doctors ( with the possibility of patients dying due to direct or indirect medical neglect) inevitably put intolerable pressure on governments to compromise principle and concede to doctors on any terms so as not to prolong public agony. That puts doctors in a winning position against the rest of society every time, however unjustified their cause.
For the GMOA to cynically claim that their strikes are for the ultimate good of the public whom they consciously penalise is sheer arrogance and adds insult to injury. For anyone to imply that the sick and dying might willingly accept the denial of treatment because they too support the doctor’s cause -- is the height of lunacy. Patients are neither masochists nor martyrs that they should be happy to endure yet more pain and suffering in support of the selfish agenda of doctors. Such fantasies reflect the self-righteous blindness of the medical establishment and how out of touch with reality many doctors have become in our society!
Nor should anyone be deluded by the glib reassurance of doctors that their strikes will not imperil the lives of patients because as a generous concession to the great Hippocrates and out of lofty compassion for the toiling masses they have condescended to maintain essential services in ICU, emergency, and paediatric units. The truth is that the actual number of people who die, suffer some complication, or whose health is in some way compromised directly or indirectly as a