New health guidelines for festive period: CMLS questions govt. claims

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena told the media yesterday that a new set of guidelines had been formulated for people to follow during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Dr. Gunawardena said that there was a possibility that a third wave of COVID-19 happening unless precautions were taken.

“The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is around the corner. During the last few weeks we saw a lot of people shopping. Shops are packed and most are not following the health guidelines.”

Dr. Gunawardena said that while it was impossible for the government to control such gatherings; it would issue guidelines and health officials would enforce them.

“These guidelines will brief people on what to do if they want to have an event to mark the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, what kind of games could be played, etc.”, he said.

President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) Ravi Kumudesh told The Island yesterday that the Health Ministry was taking decisions without proper data. Moreover, a number of senior health officers had been compelled to leave the campaign against COVID-19 and they had been replaced with some junior officers.

Kumudesh said the exodus of capable and experienced professionals would jeopardise the campaign against the spread of the coronavirus.

“Ultimately, the President has to be consulted on every decision. The state labs can do 25,000 PCR tests a day, but fewer than 4,000 are done now. We have been asking the government to provide 10 buses so that we can start mobile PCR testing units, but even after a year the government has not heeded our request. We have the best PCR lab at the BIA, with equipment worth over Rs. 100 million but not a single tourist is tested there. All the samples are sent to private labs, which make a killing.”

Kumudesh said while the campaign against COVID-19 was crumbling; the general public was given the wrong impression that the pandemic was under control and that the number of infections was decreasing naturally.

“People think they are safe. They have also been nudged to celebrate the New Year. The government has been telling us that there is a significant drop in new cases and now people think that the virus is going away. However, when we look at the world, we see that the virus is mutating.”

The CMLS chief said that the variant that originated in England was prevalent in Sri Lanka and that there was a possibility that even the South African variant had arrived in the country.