STATE OF PERIL This country is ‘blessed’ with ministerial types, opposition forces and past presidents, much to its peril…

The first mentioned resorts to threats of one kind or the other when the chips are down and seems not to think that the burning issues facing our nation are worthy of more attention.

Meanwhile, the second bloc continues to feed the media (and therefore, the public) with the kind of nonsense that even fools don’t understand – and trivia such as why a wiper on a ‘brand-new’ aircraft acquired by the national carrier wasn’t working when it landed for the first time on the tarmac at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

And to cap it all, members of the ‘decorated’ third force say they may not attend state functions from now on because they’re not happy with the seats allocated to them!

In the midst of this circus and all the empty talk, the citizenry is once again under threat; this time around, from a resurgence of diseases that are taking their toll on the health of even healthy Sri Lankans and costing businesses dearly as sickness leads to prolonged absenteeism in workplaces.

The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) raised serious concerns not long ago, warning that both dengue (the count of related cases surged past 6,000 recently, it has been reported) and chikungunya (CHIKV) have reached epidemic levels in the country.

We have also seen reports affirming that more than 30,000 dengue breeding sites were identified by the health authorities in the last week of May. Meanwhile, even our schools have been threatened with a ‘name and shame’ approach to finding solutions to the menacing state of the environment in which we live.

As for CHIKV, Sri Lanka is reportedly facing its worst outbreak in nearly two decades – so much so that travel advisories have been issued by several countries, cautioning tourists about visiting our shores.

In the meantime, there have been mixed messages about the dreaded COVID virus and confirmation that a new strain has been detected here in Sri Lanka. This was followed by calls to ‘stay safe’ but not panic, whatever that means, amid confusion about whether or not we should be wearing masks like we once did. Meanwhile, two deaths have been reported so far.

Experts and high ranking medical professionals have rightly criticised the dearth of information regarding the spread of the three viruses, as well as the lack of clarity vis-à-vis messaging – and most of all, inaction on the part of the so-called authorities.

For instance, one wonders why a nation that continues to spend lavishly on matters of state (meaning, on the powers that be) hasn’t procured COVID booster vaccines, which are readily available in many countries, and why ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ has failed to cleanse the environment so as to mitigate the spread of mosquito breeding sites?

Taxpayers are carrying a heavy burden and would like to know how their hard-earned rupees are being spent!

So while our politicians past and present continue to hog the media limelight for all the wrong reasons, the people who voted for them are left to fend for themselves.

We hope that the health related threats to our people will subside by the time this edition of LMD is released. Sri Lanka simply cannot afford to battle another pandemic.

– Editor-in-Chief