‘Let’s get junior specialists to centres of excellence for a few days every month from their regular postings’

In the light of brain drain being a hotly discussed topic, Dr. Darshana Sirisena looked backward and forward coming up with an innovative solution to keep young specialists in the country.

He said that compared to 12 years ago when he began his career as a neurologist at the Badulla Provincial General Hospital, there have been “huge” strides in the provision of neurological services in the country.

Whereas in 2010, there were 21 Adult Neurologists; 2 Paediatric Neurologists and 1 Neurophysiologist; in 2022, there were 48, 7 and 4 respectively.

Pointing out that if this pace is continued Sri Lanka could easily achieve effective island-wide coverage, Dr. Sirisena said there is a need to look at providing quality neurology care beyond basic services such as establishing clinics.

“This is where the present environment and the pace of brain drain matter most.What options do we have? We need to balance our professional life with our personal life, not compromising either. Does the current system provide opportunity for this? The answer is yes and no,” he said, proposing a “mechanism” where the knowledge of young people returning from foreign training could be used for the betterment of service on their return.

According to Dr. Sirisena this mechanism should enable them to serve in a centre recognised for excellence at least for a few days each month to exercise their skills, rather than be posted to remote centres with minimal facilities. This needs a huge attitude change within the fraternity.

“We must acknowledge that these junior colleagues are our friends and not enemies. This is the only way forward in developing finer specialties in neurology such as epilepsy, stroke, movement disorders, headache, sleep neurology and more,” he said, adding that he secured this experience not during his 12 years as a neurologist serving the four provinces of Uva, North Central, North Western and Western, but by serving as a member of the Health Ministry’s Transfer Board trying to balance members’ expectations and ministry demands.