Message to MOH: When Winning can be Losing
This crisis in our health care system is non-trivial. People have died and several others have had their health seriously compromised. The cause is a mystery but the fact that this is an episode of the utmost seriousness is not.
MOH may think that its extreme defensive posture is championing the health care system. However in effect, it runs the risk of losing credibility as an institution and confidence of the people.
The Worker’s Party (WP) are represented in Parliament and Mr Perera sits in parliament, albeit as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP). As such the response to Mr Perera’s proposal should be treated with maturity and and on substantive grounds rather than petulance and predicated on a rather silly premise that the WP are alleging improper conduct of healthcare professionals – which it clearly does not.
This matter is going to play out over sometime. Indeed the question of time and timing is a legitimate point of concentration in the review of how this episode has been managed. The MOH response to Ms Rachel Chang, who first pointing to this in public writing, is the antecedent in temperament of their response to WP.
If the MOH thinks it is somehow winning the campaign on public relations over this episode it may find itself surprised that the result to be the opposite. What it should not be is mystified if that is so. Such a mystery would be easier solved than that concerning the origins of this tragedy.
Source: Devadas Krishnadas
