Dear Aia,

You say “The second question was, how was this location selected for this contraceptive procedure;…”

Who did the selection? Evidence Points to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC). If you don’t agree please provide proof as to who else did.

You say “what was the burning need for it …”

Should you not ask the people who did the selection? Perhaps the 750% higher demand for birth control in comparison with the National demand was recognised by the NPC. This gives rise to a supplementary question. Why is it that the Tamil women of the North have such a ravenous appetite for birth control? Perhaps their men cannot control themselves! Perhaps educating the men would be in order.

You say “and how has it been implemented,…”

Should you not ask the people who implemented it? The NPC.

You say “..the method….”

Who decided on the method? Evidence points to the NPC. But I think they did the right thing by selecting the expensive but REVERSIBLE method instead of the cheaper and IRREVERSIBLE Tubectomy.

You say “Only very simple answers were required. I am yet to see any response in this regard….”

Simple answers were given though you fail to understand them or pretend not to do so. TSA have gone silent haven’t they?

You say “If was an awareness and even live loss is prevented by this article the credit should go to the TSA”

The problem is in order to create an awareness you must write the truth.
The TSA has lied deliberately (they responded ONLY once and their devious Lies got exposed). You have already admitted to having an unfounded bias towards the Central Govt that prevents you from seeking the Truth.

You and the TSA have both failed to Inquire from the PDHS of the PROVINCIAL Ministry of Health or the Provincial Govt or the Provincial Chief Minister WHO ARE the People responsible. You, like the TSA, disregard volumes of evidence that points to the Provincial Govt and instead try to pass the buck. I cannot answer for the Northern Provincial Council so please go and ask them. What is preventing you and the TSA from doing that?

Hence IF you or the TSA wants to create and awareness and prevent further Birth Control, Please do so with the Driver who drove and caused the accident and not the inanimate Vehicle. But you or the TSA wont do it, as it will not achieve the propaganda objective of stirring the Ethnic Pot.

Before you comment again, please have the courtesy to walk over to the NPC and ascertain the truth or request the TSA who has experts at their command to do the simple exercise of confronting the NPC and reporting back with the TRUTH.

Dear Off the cuff:
Admire your hardworking. I could not afford to spend as much time as I would like to.
Given the two races were not in good term since the independence, it is only natural to suspect whether this procedure has any ulterior motives, hence this was somewhat thrusted upon the community even without their knowledge. There was no this sort of issue or allegations in the past and I would like to see never will be.

Although very detailed and articulative about the caste issue the Tamil community face, your comment fell short of meeting my expectation explaining the second issue. As with the current trend asking for proof when agitation to do more about alleged crimes come, this will also hard to prove the complicity of the State. You know, when the detective and the thief is the same, proving the theft is going to be a easy task. You won’t get justice if the judge and the accused are the same. Even the Chief Justice had been shown the doors for what she did right for the country. So who do you think would dire to find evidence when not only his/her job was at stake but lives.

While criminals in SL have been apprehended immediately if they committed a minor crime, others who committed serious crimes are still at large. What is obvious though the crime being committed is real. The chance it would stop only if the perpetrator decided to stop.

Hear ,hear Dhammika. This issue is and should only be about the negligence demonstrated in not doing a pregnancy screen before inserting Jadelle.
I can’t believe so-called educated people resort to cheap tricks like accusing people of racism when all Dhammika is doing is clarifying the situation.
I’M all for social accountability , but you just gave your cause a massive drop in credibility.

Dear Aia,

Thank you for a much better response than what you wrote before.

The NPC’s Health Ministry is organised as shown here. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4766800405_4804419ec1_b.jpg

As you can see, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) is not the Head of the Provincial Ministry of Health, the Provincial Director of Health Services (PDHS) is. The RDHS is apparently Dr. Karthikayan, as per TSA report “Above the Law”, but it has no mention of the Head of the Health Ministry, the PDHS Dr(Mrs) S.R.Jude! She must have been invisible to them.

In fact their report deceitfully projects the RDHS as the Head of the Central govts’ Ministry of Health in the region. Why?

Why did their high powered “Fact Finding Mission” (of reproductive rights specialists, human rights experts and local activists) fail to interview the Head of the Northern Province Health Ministry, the PDHS?

Their report further states “The organization spoke with women in these villages, neighboring villages, local doctors, village level leaders, community leaders, and doctors at the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Kilinochchi”

The deception that is practised by the TSA is nauseating.
The “Ministry of Health” in Kilinochchi is the PROVINCIAL Ministry of Health not the Central Govt Ministry of Health! That Provincial Ministry is under the Northern Province Council, headed by the CM, Justice Vigneswaran! How very convenient to omit the word “Provincial”!

They say “Dr. Karthikayan, Regional Director of Health Services, told the fact-finding team that Sri Lanka’s unmet need for contraception, defined as the number of married women aged fifteen to forty-nine who do not use contraception even though they wish to delay the birth of their next child or wish to prevent pregnancy, is only 4%”

What does that mean?
96% of women in Lanka who desire contraception already practices it!
Why do we have so many illegal abortions?

Dr. Karthikayan the RDHS is supposed to have stated “However, for women who live in Umaiyalpuram, Malaiyalapuram, Keranchi, Veravil, and Valaipaddu the unmet need is at 30%.”

Goodness, the demand for birth control is 750% the National Average!!!!
With such a ravenous demand what is the need for coercion?

In 2012 the NPC had 2798 Tubectomies.
Tubectomies cannot be reversed says the TSA in their report.

In the same year 2615 implants were done.
Why would a govt promote an expensive REVERSIBLE contraceptive when their supposedly “ulterior” motive is better served by the cheaper and IRREVERSIBLE Tubectomy? Defies Logic.

The Functions of the NPC’s Ministry of Health are as follows (numbering is mine)
1. Improve the clinical training facilities and ensure the regular staff training.
2. Ensure the quality services rendered by implementing quality assurance programme.
3. Ensure the availability of Drugs and other medical supplies.
4. Co-ordinate with health policy matters at the provincial level and provide technical assistance in making decisions.
5. Link Provincial Ministry and line Ministry.
6. Regulate private health sector within the province.
7. Attend to public complaints promptly and ensure the investigation and disciplinary actions are carried out.
8. Organize ways and means of inventory control and ensure periodic Board of Surveys at least once a year.
9. Organize disposal of unserviceable and obsolete items and grant write off authority.
10. Co-ordinate the health activities among districts with all Regional Directors of Health Services.
11. To provide Primary Health Care Services to the returnees and internally displaced population.
12. Organise activities of prevention of Communicable diseases like Malaria, Sexually transmitted diseases and Rabies.
13. Implementation, Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation of Annual Implementation Programme and other Capital Programmes.
14. Collecting & Maintaining Health Sector Data Base including Sectoral Atlas for the Health Sector, Northern Province.
15. Coordinate Mental Health activities in the Province.
(http://www.np.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=189&Itemid=16#functions_magri)

I request you to read TSA’s recommendations given in section 3 of the report and compare that to the Functions that are the responsibility of the Provincial Council. You will find that the ball the TSA is trying to pass around has stopped at the PROVINCIAL Council’s Health Ministry.

I think you should read the TSA’s putrid report to understand their motive. It has nothing to do with obtaining redress to this bereaved family or in preventing a repetition. The TSA is using the understandable emotion generated by this unfortunate death to whip up dissension internally in Lanka and externally.

Dhammika Perera a doctor by profession states “combining nutrition and contraceptive services is a universally advocated practice in both nutrition and reproductive health and you can find technical papers on the benefits of that approach in websites such as K4H (Knowledge for Health) and the Family planning sections of USAID”

Prove him wrong please.

Dr Dhammika further states “it is largely due to Sri Lanka’s high modern contraceptive use and low fertility rate that the country has managed to bring its maternal mortality below 30/100,000 when neighboring countries rates have stayed above 200. Painting a single incident into a disaster in this manner with no proof is simply the worst kind of irresponsible journalism one could fathom and you should be ashamed of yourselves”

He is absolutely right.

Please encourage the Public to complain to the PDHS as prompt Investigation and Disciplinary action is within the purview of that office (see item 7)

You say “My comment was not intended to spread falsehood but to help bring an awareness among fair minded people about issues that are cruel in nature faced by the very people who had gone through the brunt of the war only recently”

The current tone of your comment does lead me to believe that you did not intend to spread falsehoods. Fair minded people expects facts. Whatever your intentions are there is no proof or facts presented. Without proof it cannot be accepted as the Truth. You have been duped by the emotive content as the TSA intended.

You say “The second issue which you try to ignore was far more important, that is knowing what is the driver for this procedure to be implemented in this area, and more notably, immediate aftermath of the war where almost all the younger ones perished. You are muted about this issue,…”

I don’t ignore anything. I go by facts.
You allude to a “program with hidden objectives” without providing proof of that objective.
Please read the Facts I have presented about Tubectomies and Implants above.

You say “instead harping on the caste issue engrained only in Tamil community”

My comment was in response to your statement “…conspiracy which is deplorable and akin to Hitler’s. Do not target poor peasants, for them being illiterate”.

It is the Tamil Cast system that made the 75% servile Tamils illiterate. You started the diversion by bringing in Hitler forgetting that Hitler was ever present within the minority Tamil Ruling class of the North. What was missing was only the gas chambers. The oppression practised on the servile Tamil majority had no parallel anywhere else in Lanka. Hence when anyone tries to make false accusations to gain political advantage by stating that they are oppressed by the Sinhalese I remind them where actual oppression, worse in form than slavery, was endemic. I do that by quoting Tamil writers by copying and pasting their own words without changing them.

The Tamil cast system had the authority of the Hindu Religion. It enforced the Parent’s employment on the Children. A scavenger’s child could not become anything but a Scavenger even if that child had Einstein’s brain. The majority Tamil population (servile 75%) was denied a Hindu Education. They could not reside outside segregated villages and hence did not have freedom of movement. They could not quench their thirst from wells reserved for the minority ruling class. They could not practice religion with freedom. They could not even travel in public transport without facing dire repercussions. Only after the bus services were Nationalised in 1958, by PM SWRD Bandaranaike could they even travel in a bus. Luckily for the Tamil majority (servile) population, the attempts at getting that cast system written into the Constitution failed.

Of course there is a cast system amongst the Sinhalese but it did not have the stamp of authority of a religion. It did not prevent anyone from acquiring an education and moving up the social ladder. It did not confine them to demarcated villages to prevent mobility and acquiring Land and Wealth. In short it was never the monster that the Tamil cast system is.

Hence you need to be careful when you attempt throwing insinuations expecting to intimidate your opposition.

You accuse me of not addressing the following “4years in power since war ended as opposed to 2 months; CM cannot visit around places as he wishes; most importantly, prove the need to have this procedure implemented at this time, location and adopting the method”

This discussion was about Family Planning which IS the subject matter of the NPC (please refer the functions list above). Neither the TSA nor you have been able to prove otherwise because 275 Medical Institutions out of 276 are ADMINISTERED by the NPC. That administration was not held in Limbo for 2 months. Please also note item 7 which deals with Public complaints.

Have you visited the North recently? That this was the place where a 27 year war was waged is hardly recognisable today (I have seen Jaffna during the war). That change took only 48 months and you are trying to show that Family Planning was the priority during that time. The NPC is in power for over 2 months (1/24 the that of the govt) what are its achievements? Anything close to 1/24? Was celebrating Maahveer Naal a higher priority than the Health of the Tamil population? You should read the recent article by DBS Jayaraj in the Daily Mirror about that celebration.

Dear Off the cuff

Thanks for your comprehensive response.

I know the definition of propaganda but what I meant by funny was, you who tagged my comment as propaganda and then you who had requested to keep it to myself. My comment was not intended to spread falsehood but to help bring an awareness among fair minded people about issues that are cruel in nature faced by the very people who had gone through the brunt of the war only recently.

My intent in making comment under this item is to get to the bottom of this issue, not alone the one is being discussed. I said there was two issues: I agree with you on the first, the staff who were responsible for this woman’s death due to their negligence should be held responsible. The second issue which you try to ignore was far more important, that is knowing what is the driver for this procedure to be implemented in this area, and more notably, immediate aftermath of the war where almost all the younger ones perished. You are muted about this issue, instead harping on the caste issue engrained only in Tamil community. Your calculated effort veering this debate from this far more important issue into the caste system is only a diversion tactic which you have mastered with rolling out your cut and paste stuffs as and when you felt the need to do so, such practice, you claim is an intelligent way of doing your business- I don’t disagree.

Regarding the funding allocation to NP I made, you are readily raising the disproportionate issue, you bring this into if it was for development; if it for destruction of it there no bound. I agree with your caste comments, it is shameful really, however it is not a high priority now. We have moved on and is improved quite a lot now. But you have got to take it in correct perspective, we knew Sinhala community has also this problem though not to the extent Tamils have where forks of Kandian origin think they are the superior lots. Aren’t they.

You have conveniently skipped from making comments for the following matters raised:

4years in power since war ended as opposed to 2 months; CM cannot visit around places as he wishes; most importantly, prove the need to have this procedure implemented at this time, location and adopting the method.

Dear Aia,

You say “Will start back to front, funny you mentioned mine was propaganda and then asking to keep it to myself”

propaganda noun : ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.

What you wrote fitted the above definition and hence is propaganda which damages peace efforts and hence should have been kept to yourself. It is not funny if you understands the implications though.

You say “Propaganda is there to be spread, although my intent was not to spread or politicise issues that needs to be looked at a compassionate angle”

Laughable logic. Guns are there to shoot but when you do you will be shot at or held accountable.

Propaganda is a virus that needs to be countered. Truth is the perfect counter to it. Propagandist have a problem when they are confronted with the TRUTH. Hence your aversion to Sebastian Rasalingam’s writings. You cannot face the TRUTH of what was done to the Tamil majority of the North.

Propagandists use the word “Tamil” to hide behind. But that word is an INCLUSIVE word. Tamil society in the North was anything but INCLUSIVE. It had a 25% ruling Class and a 75% Servile class as stated by a member of that ruling class Ms. Pearl Thevanayagam. If you still wont accept what Ms Thevanayagam, Mr Rasalingam and Mr Thomas Johnpulle (all Tamils) says then please read “My Village” written by Mr Nagalingam Ethirweerasingham the first president of the Global Tamil Forum at this link (http://tamilnation.co/forum/ethir/ode.htm).

Octogenarian Mr Sebastian Rasalingam is a very rare educated member of the Servile class. He is very rare because despite all HINDU SCHOOLS in the North refusing admittance to a single member of the SERVILE class, his parents changed his religion and baptised him to secure an education from a Christian missionary school. An education that the Tamil society in the North denied the Servile class with the aim of keeping them ignorant. Even in that Christian School he had to sit on the ground or a low stool while his so called peers sat at a desk and a high chair!

He provides a window into the Northern Tamil Society that was kept well hidden. He is exceedingly brave to write and give a voice to that Servile 75%. No wonder you want to discredit him instead of contesting what he says. Quoting someone requires writing down exactly what that person says. In this modern age only a fool will laboriously type out word for word in order to quote what another says. I have quoted you by copying and pasting and you want to belittle what these brave people write because I copy and paste them? (the word you used was cut). You can delude yourself but that will not work Aia, better to contest their writings. But contesting the TRUTH is a hard task isn’t it?

You say “Your apparent impatient with NPC for not taking up these sort of issues even after two months into office doesn’t resonate in the same amplitude when it comes to Centre, which is sitting on issues that have passed well over 4 years since, very pathetic ones too. How many trees have been planted in these years I know you would not know”

Again you have gone astray with your logic. The point that I made is that the above case, should in the FIRST instance, been taken up with the relevant authority. But making political capital was more important to the TSA.

If the TSA’s intent was genuinely obtaining redress, it should have initially complained to the ADMINISTRATION of the MOH office where the neglect occurred, which is The Provincial Director of Health Services (PDHS), Dr(Mrs) S.R.Jude. If that failed to address the issue, then the TSA should have gone to the next higher authority, which is the NPC, the Head of which is CM Vigneswaran. The TSA did nothing of the sort because their intent was anything but obtaining redress to the bereaved family.

I am not impatient with the NPC. They can take all the time they want and keep on planting trees at the Jaffna Educational office premises and elsewhere accompanied by high officials of the NPC. However I am certain that the CM would have put the Health needs of the Northern population far above tree planting if he was made aware of these despicable acts of alleged forced / coerced Family Planning!

The TSA are proven lairs (please see my reply to the TSA’s response). They claimed they did not know the names of the medical personnel which they now claim they do. The reason they did not disclose the names was because all those who are involved were Tamil. They did not disclose that ALL MOH offices in the Northern Province was Administered by the Northern Provincial Council because they had an ulterior motive. They did not take it up with the Medical Administration because they had no leg to stand on. You came to their defence ignoring the FACTS. Which makes you complicit.

Since I have now dealt with your argument let’s take a look at what you have written.

You say “CM cannot go around to places that have been under his purview;”

Why? Is he prevented from visiting the MOH’s Office?

You ask “have they got necessary funding to implement any programme or projects”

It is an acknowledged fact that the Northern Province received the HIGHEST fund allocation since independence, after the war. Are you looking for further handouts disproportionate to the rest of the island? Anything in excess of a percapita allocation necessarily means that you are asking the other provinces to subsidise the NPC.

If the NPC has not received an allocation proportionate to the population within then I am with you in asking for funds but if it is not the NPC has to find it’s own from within the province. Is that not equality?

You say “Despite these odds he has been facing, you want him to focus on this issue so the line ministry and the drivers of this procedure can be set free and be bailed out, that is understandable”

Let me reiterate, the Line Ministry does not administer the MOH, the NPC does. Other than the Jaffna Teaching Hospital all other 275 Health care institutions are administered by the NPC of Mr Vigneswaran.

The TSA forgot that and they thought like you when they decided to stir the pot. Blame the govt which is called the Sinhala govt (though it is not). Unfortunately for them and you the Line Ministry provides the resources, the NPC administers them. The facts of the case NEVER pointed a finger at the Line Ministry but it did point to the NPC.

This unfortunate medical misadventure is due to the neglect of the MOH and his/her staff at the Primary Health Centre in Malaiyalapuram and the MOH office in Kilinochchi. The Staff there are Tamil and would have had an empathy with the Tamil civilians (assuming untouchability did not kick in). Please don’t try to use the grief of this Tamil family as a political tool to create dissension.

Off the cuff:
Thank you for your reply. Did not expect a response for my comment. Will start back to front, funny you mentioned mine was propaganda and then asking to keep it to myself. Propaganda is there to be spread, although my intent was not to spread or politicise issues that needs to be looked at a compassionate angle. The timing of, the location chose for and the way the procedure has been implemented has got my attention, and it commenced well before the all- powerful NP council come into being. Implicating the fledgling council in this is an attempt tarnishing its image. But CW is very popular where it matters than your negativity would do to him. Don’t pretend that you don’t know of what has been happening since the Council has come to power. Even the graduates appointments have been made by the Centre; CM cannot go around to places that have been under his purview; have they got necessary funding to implement any programme or projects. Despite these odds he has been facing, you want him to focus on this issue so the line ministry and the drivers of this procedure can be set free and be bailed out, that is understandable. I know CW will persevere all these odds and prevails on matters he thinks he should take care of. He is not there to dwell right away on one of the alleged wrongs Centre is pursuing in North and East but to work with it and get the best to people that elected him. I am sure he will prevail and set an example on how best an elected member would live up to the expectation of its people.
Did not expect the comment I made about “Do not target poor peasants …” ended up in ridiculing Tamils for having inherited the caste system. You are legend in diverting tactics and in taking the focus out from the topic in discussion. And your apathy towards the low caste Tamils is there to be seen through your writings.
Your apparent impatient with NPC for not taking up these sort of issues even after two months into office doesn’t resonate in the same amplitude when it comes to Centre, which is sitting on issues that have passed well over 4 years since, very pathetic ones too. How many trees have been planted in these years I know you would not know.
There are two issues in regards to this death. Number one is apparent negligence, that requires a disciplinary hearing and actions, the Number two is what was the driver for implementing this procedure in this area which was severely affected by the recent war. The by-product of it is the questionable enticing tactics being used prey on mothers who are illiterate and with hand to mouth earning. What is the need for it such implementation and tactics?. If you present your comments with relevant statistic proving the area selected is indeed in need of this procedure, I am prepared to look at it. OMG, am very relieved that this time I had not to go through the cut and paste stings of GGP and Rasalingam. Propaganda, Hmm… the readership will judge who is doing what. Don’t they?.