When one’s success is another’s suffering

Friday 2nd July, 2021

Government nurses are on the warpath. Their sick-note campaign affected all state-run health institutions except some places such as the pandemic treatment centres, yesterday. They have claimed that their trade union struggle was a huge success. That means the hospitals were crippled and poor patients who cannot afford treatment elsewhere underwent untold suffering. Thus, the success of the nurses’ trade union action has been measured in terms of human suffering! Ironically, one of the protesting unions is led by a Buddhist monk, who openly campaigned for the current leaders while they were in the political wilderness. The leader of another warring union is a former UNP National List MP.

A health sector strike could not have come at a worse time. Covid-19, however, is not the only disease troubling the people, as is public knowledge. There are many other ailments they seek treatment for. Thousands of patients who sought treatment at government hospitals in all parts of the country were turned away, yesterday. Some of them, interviewed by television channels, said they had hired vehicles to travel to hospitals from faraway places only to be disappointed. These are the people who have elected the present government and pay the salaries of the protesting nurses.

There is no gainsaying that the nurses have some legitimate grievances, but the fact remains that health sector strikes are tantamount to holding the sick to ransom. There are millions of poor people who are dependent on free healthcare, and it is they who suffer when health workers resort to trade union action. The pandemic has reduced many people to penury. Therefore, the health workers’ strikes that cause tremendous suffering to the hapless public cannot be countenanced on any grounds. This is something the Buddhist monk concerned ought to take cognisance of. The Buddha taught the world how to end suffering, but unfortunately some of those who claim to be his followers inflict suffering on humans to win their demands!

Similarly, the government leaders have demonstrated their callous disregard for the suffering of the sick by refusing to redress the longstanding grievances of the state sector nurses, who have been urging successive governments to solve their problems and issued numerous warnings, which the ruling party politicians have chosen to ignore. This is what happens when power goes to their heads.

The government sought to import hundreds of luxury vehicles for the MPs. Thankfully, it had to reverse its decision due to protests. But it does not care to address the problems the protesting nurses and other health workers are faced with. It has given in to pressure from the government doctors and taken action to improve the latter’s lot much to the consternation of other categories of hospital workers. The SLPP leaders have thus driven the nurses to take trade union action.

The nurses are threatening to intensify their trade union action unless the government meets its demands. The possibility of a continuous strike cannot be ruled out, for the ruling party politicians love the game of chicken. The government is sure to practise brinkmanship, and the ordinary people are likely to suffer another blow at the hands of the protesting nurses.

Political leaders and their kith and kin will not care a damn about the health sector strikes because they have the wherewithal to receive treatment at foreign hospitals. They claim to have developed the health sector over the decades, but they do not consider the Sri Lankan hospitals good enough for them and their family members.

The government will eventually give in to pressure from the nurses’ unions, and agree to grant their demands. This, we have seen in the past. Why can’t it do so now instead of waiting until another round of trade union action, which will make the public undergo more suffering?

Let the government and the nurses’ unions be urged to stop flexing their muscles, resume negotiations and sort out the issues that have given rise to a trade union struggle.