SL Health System Cannot Cope with the Pandemic; Close Airport for a Month
Posted on March 12th, 2020
Dilrook Kannangara
WHO declared COVID19 a pandemic. A pandemic is a global epidemic. Apart from a very few countries including Burma, nowhere is safe from the infection. Within 2 days SL recorded at least two patients. The health system is wholly inadequate to face this challenge. Infrastructure within hospitals is insufficient and the government does not have the funds to sustain a sustained campaign to attend to the infected.
Further, if widespread it will devastate poor families as their sole breadwinner will be put out of daily-wage work for a considerable time.
Even big business will come to a grinding halt if the spread is not contained.
These are the real dangers of the pandemic, not death rate which is low.
Government of SL must immediately close the airports to contain the situation. Many countries have taken drastic measures. The amount of foreign currency earnings lost is minute in comparison to the economic disaster that awaits. Sri Lanka has a natural sea barrier to save itself from epidemics. It is time to close all man-made entry points into the island for a month. China’s situation is now easing as the epidemic there is on the wane. The initial phase is the most dangerous and that is why the airport must be closed ASAP.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:40 am
This type of illnesses for which there is no known medicine are called “deyyange leda” (illnesses sent by god) by our villagers. When these things occur they self quarantine and hang some neemb leaves outside the house for others in the village to keep away. And they face it with confidence knowing that it will go away.
Perhaps god gave this to Chinese in a much more devastating way because they do not show any kindness to animals and eat their body parts. Some say that there are over 400,000 Chinese in SL. They may have been traveling to and fro since the virus first appeared in end of November last year. So, just like Singapore we may also have been affected without our knowledge. But because we have some inbuilt resistance and we do not live in congested places we are not affected like the europeons. The virus in China also may have lost its strength and has passed the peak.
I therefore believe that we should not panic and create a lock down unnecessarily and suffer an economic disaster.