April 15, 2013, 6:14 pm


It was recently reported in almost all national newspapers that a Sri Lankan Surgeon paractising in UK claiming to have a good percentage of successful surgeries was under probe. The hospital where he practised initiated inquiries into his claims and requested the Royal College of Surgeons (UK) to carry out a review of his practice and that led to the discovery of his low efficiency.


It is time our own regulatory authorities in the Health sector, be it the Sri Lanka Medical Council or the College of Surgeons, monitored the performance of our surgeons. Some of them are really good while there are a few whose capabilities are in doubt. They charge a lot of money for major surgeries at private hospitals. No one questions their success rate. These hospitals boast that they have performed so many operations without giving the public details.


There have been hundreds of instances where the patients died either during operations or immediately afterwards. Private hospitals never conduct inquiries into these unfortunate incidents. They are only concerned about maximising their profit. Let us see what the SLMC or the Health Ministry have got to say to this.


Tilak Fernando


Wellawatte

island.lk