Lanka heads region in health, education and social welfare: Dr. Amunugama

Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama who was the Chief Guest on the last day of the Agricultural Exhibition held at the BMICH recently said that Sri Lanka stood ahead of other countries of the region in respect of health, education and social welfare. The theme of the exhibition was ‘A Wholesome Agriculture and a Healthy Population’. Following is his speech:

Sri Lanka stands ahead of other countries of the region in respect of health, education and social welfare. By saying so I don’t mean that we are perfect in all respects. We have still a long way to go. Today the attention of the whole world is focused on us because of our very low rate of infant mortality, because of our high rate of life expectancy at birth, and a generally good state of health of the population.

Countries like Bangladesh, India and China are big countries. However the most prevalent health problems in those countries are the problems related to communicable diseases. Such diseases are getting diminished in the world. Earlier small pox was a big problem. Today to a great extent small pox has become rare everywhere. Although many other communicable diseases prevail in many other countries, in our own country owing to the effectiveness of our health service personnel, communicable diseases have almost ceased to exist. The incidence of whooping cough, measles and chicken pox- diseases which were so common when we were children have now diminished to an insignificant level. They have not completely disappeared but the incidence is very small. 

Chronic kidney disease

On the other hand we are now facing a different problem. Non-communicable diseases are now raising their head. Out of those diseases the most acute is the chronic kidney disease. We should all wish that no one would contact a disease relating to the kidneys. People die of various diseases. Some people die of heart diseases. However kidney diseases are of a kind where the afflicted person suffers for a long time, often months and years on end, before he dies. We have looked into the causes of this disease. The primary source of the disease is water. 

Now I must refer to our traditional system of water management. Sri Lanka is a small country. The mountains are right in the centre. The water that flows down the mountains along rivers feed the fields through a network of canals and field channels. The main feature of this system of water management is that water used once is repeatedly used thereafter several times. King Parakramabahu the Great said, ‘Let not a drop of rain that falls on this country flow out to the sea without being made use of’. That is perfectly correct. However, when water flows down that way, the same water is used by our farmers seven or eight times. 

Water in the upper liyadda flows down to the lower liyadda. From there it goes back to the ela. From there it flows down to the lower ela. It is used there and flows down elsewhere. That is known as the ‘cascading system’. In former times this system had one item of great merit in it. Water which was a scarce commodity was used very efficiently. There was nothing wrong in that but the fault arises from the use of poisonous chemicals now to kill weeds. A field gets three applications of fertiliser. We know that fertiliser is applied once before ploughing. When the plants are young, there is another application of fertiliser. Before harvesting when the seeds are just maturing, there is a third application of fertiliser. In that way there is an extensive use of fertiliser.

The Government also supported this use of fertiliser. Fertiliser bought spending thousands of rupees was given at the rate of Rs. 500. Later it was reduced to Rs. 350. When elections come round the request of everyone is to reduce some more. That comes number one in the programme. No one stops to reflect whether the effect will be good or bad. Fertiliser has become an election stunt to get more votes. Formerly the stunt was related to rice. You all know that when one party gives rice at a low price, the other gives it free. When it is said that there is no rice to be given free, they say that they will bring it even from the moon. Anyway thanks to our farmers now there is no rice politics. There is good production of paddy. Actually today’s problem is that there is a surplus. This Maha there will be a very successful harvest. However within that success, especially our farming community, will have a problem, it is the problem of producing crops using poisonous chemicals. 

Return to traditional methods

Members of the farming community suffer from various diseases. Today in one province alone there are more than 5,000 patients. We must therefore think of their lives, think of the money we will need to spend on curing them and transform our agriculture to traditional methods devoid of the use of poisonous chemicals. That is the need of our times.

Our President comes from a farming family. His old constituency is one where the vast majority are farmers. He knows this problem inside out. He has said that we must take exemplary decisions. All kinds of stunts are not necessary to win votes. Human beings are more important to us. However we do not compel. If it was another country, a law will be promulgated, the police will come, people will be arrested. In our case, the option is given to the people. We have given money – Rs. 25,000 – and not a small sum. If the farmer wants he can buy fertiliser with it or he can use his own compost. If he makes compost at the village level and use it, he can keep the money for himself. That money went out of the country earlier. We allocated Rs. 35 billion for fertiliser from our tax revenue year before last. 

Actually the people who criticise don’t know this. The people who go on protest marches don’t know what the actual story is. This Government has allocated Rs. 38 billion for the farmer. Therefore this is not something that the Government does for any financial gain. This is being done to protect the health of the farming community – to effect a change at the village level.

We have the rural family. There is that unit. We must improve the health and the economic standard of that unit. It is necessary to carry out big projects in a country – to provide infrastructure, to build roads, airports, harbours, etc. Those are essential. However at the same time we must enrich that family unit day by day. How do we do that? We do that by making use of our local resources.

You know that in former days if we go to a village home they will have in their own garden lime, rampe and karapinchcha. What is the situation today? You have to go to the boutique even to buy rampe, karapincha and lime. Someone says, ‘Must open a salmon tin imported from abroad and give our Manthrithuma a good meal.’ I am relating the truth. After that they bring dhal. Then they bring sausages. People think that you like very much to eat these things. But it is true.

I am also a farmer. People who have come to Kandy know that. I also have paddy fields. I have a herd of cattle. I grow fruit. I do all that methodically. It is from my herd that we give free milk to all the children in my village. We have resources like that. It is possible to do this. When a child is provided with support to live, when he is given an education and turned into a strong person, it is our duty to make him healthy even economically. 

A healthy population 

Fertiliser is a matter related to the health of the rural population. It is a matter related to the outflow of a large amount of money abroad. It is a matter where the money available for developing our villages goes out elsewhere. At the same time it is a matter where the fertiliser is sent to the village and everything there is killed. We must think of developing an economy that ensures a healthy population. A huge amount of fertiliser is brought. On account of non-communicable diseases you are prevented from contributing your labour to the country’s benefit as early as 10 years before your death. Persons suffering from diabetes and heart diseases lack that physical and mental efficiency.

We must develop this country; we must give our children a better life than we have had. You can’t build a good society by being critical all the time, by finding fault with everyone all the time. It is possible that sometimes there might be black sheep among our officials. Just because there might be one or two black sheep, the entire species of sheep does not become black. They are always white. We were talking about black sheep, isn’t it? If so, how many black sheep are there among politicians? In fact I think if we think in terms of proportions, the biggest proportion of black sheep are among politicians. Public officers are castigated all the time. They are called black sheep. You can’t blame the entire public service. I am talking through my experience. I have worked as a Government Agent and as a Ministry Secretary. I have worked as a Minister. In all those capacities I have performed public service.

Economy is dependent on women

The Sri Lankan economy is dependent on women. Our women go abroad for employment and send back to the country Rs. 6 billion annually. It is women who send back the most amount of money. The day that Rs. 6 billion does not come into the country, there will be a huge problem. 

Secondly there are the women who work in our garment industry. They take second place in earning money for the country. Thirdly, there are the women who work in the estates, particularly the Tamil women. We earn money in the third place from the produce of the tea, rubber and coconut estates. 

Now we must form the fourth battalion. This battalion will not go abroad, they will not go to work in garment factories, nor will they work in tea, rubber or coconut estates. However they will have their own home-gardens. If they only make a small investment and grow food crops in their own home gardens, we can make the entire country prosperous. That battalion is essential.

I may be a Member of Parliament. You ladies may be public officers. We are all privileged people. If so we must all while enjoying those privileges turn them into a service. That should be our objective.