Limit private practice to hospitals
Noel L. Abeysekera, The Island, Asia News Network, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Doctors in any country in the world are a respected profession. But it is not so in Sri Lanka. All governments since independence have treated them as another servant of the people. They are ever so often reminded that they have received their education free of charge from the government and the people. Politicos seek treatment in hospitals and demand special attention for themselves and when this is not forthcoming, even resort to assault of doctors. In this sorry state of affairs it would natural that doctors have chosen to act as servants of the people. All public servants at least in Sri Lanka put themselves and their emoluments before service. This is so in all aspects of public life.
Fortunately doctors have been more considerates. When on strike I have observed doctors on duty in Emergency Units. This is not so in respect of other strikes.
A doctor has to maintain his image. This is naturally expected of him by everyone. But he cannot do so with the salary he draws. A junior doctor's salary is equivalent to that of a Grade 1 Officer in the public service. But the doctor is expected to maintain an image very much more than that of a public officer.
The problem is thus purely a financial one. The government does not have the funds to pay salaries to doctors commensurate with their service and status in society. It was for this reason that Dr. N.M. Perera in the past brought forward legislation for everyone attending the Out Patients Departments of General Hospitals to affix a stamp of 25 cents denomination to the OPD card. Such collection would have been ample to maintain the hospitals as well as pay the doctors well. But who scrapped this system? It was the UNP. If initiated today patients may have to pay a sum of maybe Rs. 5 each. This is not so high a fee for anyone -- even beggars in need of medical treatment. Today at the private hospitals, a patient has to spent as much as Rs. 300 just to see a doctor who would invariably be a doctor from one of the government hospitals working after work.
Why not adopt this method promoted by Dr. Perera even at this late stage? It would certainly be a solution to the present difficulty in rectifying the salary anomalies of the doctors. Specialist doctors should be allowed to conduct their clinics after hours in the hospitals itself for which those patients who require specialist care could be charged a reasonable fee. The support staff of nurses and minor employees in the hospitals too will benefit from this method since they too can work overtime at these clinics. The specialist doctors need not work at the private hospitals thereby forcing these private hospitals to recruit their own doctors rather than depending on the government doctors.