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Einstein’s links with Asia

by L. H. R. Wijetunga
Albert Einstein was a many sided personality. He was a lonely man who liked peace and quiet; at the same time he loved company particularly of those who differed from him in culture, tradition and customs. He had in him the ‘wander lust’ too and had travelled to almost all parts of the globe by the time he was fifty.

His links with Asia probably commenced when he was a Professor in Prague from 1910 to 1912 where he became a close friend of the Sanskrit Scholar Prof. Moritz Winternitz. Einstein was a frequent visitor to the Winternitz home where he used to play the violin accompanied on the piano by Winternitz’s sister-in law who was herself a talented musician. During this time he would have been familiar with the work of German intellectuals such as Schopenhauer who were influenced by religions of the East. This is shown by Einstein’s later writings where he has made several references to information he had gleaned from such sources.

Most of his travels out of Germany were made during the height of his fame when he was Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics and Professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Einstein’s journey to the Far-east where he spent about 2 to 3 months took place in the Autumn of 1922. Setting out from Berlin accompanied by his wife Elsa he took train to Marseilles from where he travelled by steamer to Kobe in Japan. According to a Russian author he is supposed to have passed through Bombay, Colombo Penang and Shanghai finally reaching Kobe in November 1922.

There is hardly any direct evidence of his coming ashore in Colombo. It is possible that he came ashore incognito and left quite discreetly unidentified. However his diary notes of the journey speak of ‘the nobility of the people of Ceylon’ which confirms that he did come ashore in Colombo.

He reached Shanghai in mid November 1922 where he was greeted at the pier by teachers and pupils of the German School there who sang the now forgotten (and forbidden) German National Anthem "Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles’ (Germany, Germany above all) It was while in Shanghai that he received a cablegram intimating him of his being awarded the Nobel Prize.

From Shanghai Einstein proceeded to Kobe and then to Tokyo where he was greeted by the Japanese people not only as a renowned scientist but also as a representative of Germany at the time. The late German Scholar-monk Ven. Nynatiloka who was in Japan during this period mentioned to this writer that he had never seen such a large crowd as that which greeted Einstein, in all his life.

Prominent personalities

Einstein stayed in Japan several weeks meeting a number of prominent personalities including the Emperor and Empress with whom he conversed in French, a language he was more familiar with, than English at the time. Many interesting stories have been related about his stay in Japan. During a train journey he noticed that his Japanese companions were whispering to each other looking at him. He felt a little uneasy and softly inquired whether anything was amiss. The polite Japanese answered rather shyly saying that his second lecture did not last four hours as the first and therefore they felt a little disappointed!

While in Japan Einstein was fascinated by the customs of the Japanese such as their tea ceremony and their sensitivity for the arts and love of nature. With his preference for the music of Mozart and Bach he found their music a little too monotonous for his ears. In his diary notes he mentions how deeply he was moved by the " purity of soul " of the Japanese people.

On his return voyage to Europe Einstein broke journey in Palestine where he stayed with the British High Commissioner there at the time, Sir Herbert Samuel who was a personal friend of Einstein and who was very much interested in the theory of relativity.

In Palestine Einstein received a tumultuous welcome with gun salutes and mounted troops. He was nevertheless saddened by the relations existing between the Jews and the Arabs even during this period. He earnestly wished that the Jews should make an effort to understand the cultural life of the Arab people, make friends with them and live in peace. Nearly three decades later when he was invited to become the President of Israel after the demise of Chaim Weizmann, Einstein politely declined the offer saying that he was not suitable for this position.

Satisfactory explanation

Einstein returned to Germany some time in March 1923 and settled down to work once more. It was about this period that events came to pass when Einstein’s name came to be linked with that of the Indian physicist Surendra Nath Bose who was a Professor in the University of Dhakka. Bose suggested to Einstein that the classical statistical distribution of energy in a radiation enclosure could be modified using the Quantum Theory so that a more satisfactory explanation of certain experimental observations could be offered’ than on earlier theories.

The fundamental differences between the new statistics and the old were in the non-identity of the packets of energy in the radiation enclosure and their number not remaining constant unlike in the older theories. Einstein used the suggestions made by Bose in providing the necessary theoretical explanation for the observed experimental facts and the new statistics came to be known as ‘ Bose - Einstein Statistics’.

Bose never met Einstein but was one of his most ardent followers and revered him as a guru. A strong nationalist always garbed in the National costume, he had a picture of Einstein garlanded in the traditional Indian manner behind his desk.

By this time Einstein had become a world celebrity and many important foreign personalities met him in Among them was the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore on his visit to Europe. Tagore had discussions with Einstein on philosophical problems specially on the nature of truth and reality as seen by a scientist and a mystic.

With the upsurge of anti-Semitism in Germany towards the early thirties and the rise of the National Socialist Party, Einstein’s position in Germany became more and more insecure. After a short period of stay in Belgium Einstein left for the United States and took up permanent residence there some time towards the end of 1933 when Hitler became chancellor in Germany. He became a member of the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton where he pursued his researches in a peaceful atmosphere very much unlike the Germany he had left behind.

It was while in Princeton that he took an interest in world affairs - specially in problems where injustice and oppression took place in different parts of the world. He was naturally interested in the struggle for independence by the people of India. He had a great respect for Mahatma Gandhi whom he described as ‘a man who has devoted all his strength to the upliftment of his people and betterment of their lot and a man who has confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of the simple human being and thus at all times risen superior’.

Soon after India attained Independence in 1947, Pandit Nehru on a visit to America made a courtesy call on Einstein at his home in Princeton. He was delighted and discussed with Nehru the problems that India would face in the new era that had dawned on her. It is almost certain that the development of Science and Technology in India would have figured in these talks.

The year 1945 however would have been a very unhappy one for Einstein. It was in August of that year that the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Einstein would have been saddened not only because the principle enunciated by him was used in the bomb also because it was he who intimated to President Roosevelt about the possibility of Germany making the bomb, thereby speeding up its development in the U.S; more importantly because they were dropped on a people whom he had met and come to admire so much during his sojourns in Asia.

Tales of a lifetime
A Swiss airjet waits for me

One day in the latter half of 1966, I was booked to travel on a Swiss Air Flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. I looked forward to this flight because, so far, on my world trip, I had not travelled on that airline. And I was not to be disappointed.

While I was checking in, I placed my spectacles on the ledge in front of me. After my documents had been checked, I proceeded on my way to the departure lounge, unaware that I had left my spectacles behind.

When I heard the Flight call from Swiss Air, I proceeded to walk towards the aircraft. As I was approaching it, I saw a man standing in front of me, waving a pair of spectacles. Strange to relate, even then, it did not occur to me that they belonged to me! Actually, what passed through my mind at the moment was "some idiot has left his specs behind’: I passed on and boarded the aircraft.

Seated in the aircraft, I fastened my safety belt and awaited its departure. In a short time it began to move along the runway and stopped on the tarmac with the engines reving up and ready for the take- off. The Flight Captain said "Ladies and Gentleman, we are about to take off, please read your safety regulations".

I then felt in my pocket for my spectacles and realised, at long last, that I had left them behind at the check-out counter. I immediately sprang up from my seat and spoke to the steward who was standing by me. I told him that I left my spectacles behind at the Airport checkout and said "Please radio the Airport to send them on the next Swiss Air Flight to Bangkok’: I never expected what happened next.

I thought I would receive a polite reply that the radio message would be sent at their earliest convenience. Instead, to my utter amazement, the steward rushed to the Captain’s cabin, as the engines continued to rev up for the take off. Almost immediately, the engines were throttled back and the Captain announced "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be a slight delay’: The steward emerged from the Captain’s cabin, the door of the aircraft opened, he stepped out and hurried back towards the Airport.

There was an interval of about twenty five minutes, during which time the stationary jet was sitting on the tarmac consuming fuel. Eventually, the door opened, the panting steward entered, came to my seat and handed me my spectacles. When in my embarrassment, I ventured to stammer that I never intended to delay the aircraft, he graciously, albeit breathlessly, replied "It’s all in the service, Sir".

Another feature of this incident is also noteworthy. Surprisingly, my fellow passengers philosophically accepted the Flight Captain’s statement that there would be a delay. They did not ask for any reasons. Neither did they show any displeasure towards me when they realised that it was my carelessness that had caused the delay.

And last, but not least, despite the delayed start, the Swiss Air Jet arrived at Bangkok Airport, ahead of schedule.

Altogether an unforgettable experience. It will live forever in the treasure house of my memory. – Gerald Cooray

People and Events
Caine nominated for Academy Award

by Nan
The Oscar ceremony is on today, 26 March, with its glitz, glamour, suspense and reactioned acceptance speeches ranging from a teary "Thank you Mom, thank you Director, thank you all " to a cheeky "I did it!". Accusations have been levelled at the selection panel for discrimination towards whites and Hollywood productions, but the excitement grows each year and even though we in Paradise are deprived, yes DEPRIVED, I say loud and clear, of quality films and Oscar nominations/winners, we still are very interested in the American Academy Awards.

Will We Ever See the Quality Films We Read About?

There is a vast difference in watching a film on screen, whether wide or small, and in your TV as a video. If one is merely interested in the story, a TV screening is OK. But if one wants to view and note other aspects of a film, get a total appreciation of a film, then the cinema and wide screen are essential. Seeing Titanic on video and recently at the Majestic Cinema was a very different experience. I was gifted the two videos of Titanic just after the film’s release in America, and it was a pirated version that was a strip or band on the video. But we watched it and lent it to others, the demand being great. You had to see it on wide screen to appreciate the real scenes in the film - lifting a part of the wreckage, moving deep down in the ocean into the ghostly ship or what remains of it.

The Majestic Cinema tried hard to deafen us - unbearable when the bang bang shorts of the forthcoming films were shown. It was real noise pollution endangering one’s hearing, I meant to complain at the interval, but then got so absorbed in the Titanic that I forgot all about the grouse. Having equipment means using it to the full, never mind the effect on the victims’ ears, specially those who are not into deafening music. It’s the same at weddings. The hired band thinks they are paid to assault people with music and make conversation impossible.

You will see in tomorrow’s paper who and which have won the Oscars. Maybe American Beauty nominated for eight awards will sweep the board collecting Oscars for best actor and best actress: Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening who play a dysfunctional middle class suburban married couple.

Michael Caine Makes a Comeback

I’ll be rooting for Michael Caine as best supporting actor in the the Cider House Rules. A comedown for such a marvellous actor to be named supporting actor but then age pushes one down to the lower rungs. Cider House has been nominated in seven categories including best film, best director and best adapted screenplay. Caine collects his fifth Oscar nomination as best actor or best supporting actor. He won his only Academy Award to date as supporting actor in Woody Allen’s Hannah and her Sisters (1986).

In Cider House Caine is a New England orphanage director - Dr. Wilbur Larch - in John Irving’s best selling novel. He is a kindly white haired obstetrician who runs an orphanage in Maine, also an ether addict and abortionist. The abortions he carries out more on humanitarian grounds; persuading many a woman to have her unwanted baby and give it over to the orphanage. Caine said he enjoyed working with the kids with whom he empathised having suffered trauma as an evacuee in London during the war years.

Michael Caine, real name Maurice Micklewhite (1933-) played for years on stage and in a couple of films in England until his appeal was discovered. His most famous films are Alfie (’60), Sleuth (’62), The Ipcress File (’65) Educating Rita (’93). He has starred in around 70 films and in the 70s and 80s in two or three per year.

The best known fact about Caine is his deliberate unconcealment of his Cockney origins. He still can switch on the Cockney accent when he wishes to shock or cut others down to size by showing with pride his lower than middle class lineage. He could easily have disguised his working class background when he entered the British theatre in the late 1950s, but no, he held onto his Cockney vowels as a way of rebelling against a class system which persisted even when he was cock of the walk in Pinewood Studios and Hollywood. Labelled a Cockney actor with derision in his home country he aroused interest in America. Naturally he preferred to work in the latter country. He earned his first Oscar nomination for playing a Cockney lecher in Alfie. Did you see it? I can remember vividly his coiling his six foot something into the back of a small car, with a girl in tow, the girl being the buxom barmaid easy doer with the giggles.

Caine In America

He actually enjoyed working in the States away from the stifling class system. ‘When I left to work in America for the first time 30 years ago, no one talked about my accent or any class or anything. It was ‘Can he act?’ No? Then fling him out’. It was really liberating for me. In England, I was a Cockney actor. In America, I was an actor". He lived in Los Angeles until homesickness overcame him and he returned to Britain.

Another feature of this remarkable actor is his deliberate dead pan expression. It served him well in Sleuth when throughout the film, rich writer Laurence Olivier and he, the detective, plan the perfect murder on the other as victim.

In the early 1990s Caine gave up acting in films, fed up with the roles he was being offered. He went into business and runs his own production company - M and M Productions Inc - with Martin Bragman. He also is shareholder in seven London restaurants. He sat down in his off years to write his autobiography - What’s it All About? The title echoes the hit song in Alfie.

Then in 1997 the urge to act again came upon him and he was back in demand starring in four films. He’s acted opposite Kate Winslet in Quills - a soon to be released film about the Marquis de Sade. Accents have come round full circle because now he’s working in Shiner directed by John Irving in which Caine plays a London gang leader.

Speaking about accents he says: "From being in America my voice changed. What I did with the Cockney accent was cut down the speed because it not the accent Americans don’t understand, it’s the speed. People think my accent is Cockney but it isn’t. It’s mine, which is now impersonated by everyone. It’s an amalgam. I’m the original bourgeois nightmare - a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars!"

Caine also says: "I’ll always be there because I’m a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I’ve any talent is beside the point. John Wayne once advised me to talk low, talk slow and don’t talk too much. And then I went and made Sleuth. I’m a sort of boy next door - if that boy has a good script. You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good film."

Oscar Statuettes Go Missing

The statuettes to be presented were apparently stolen in California, a foreign newspaper reported on Monday 20th. John Pavlik, spokesman for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said they were stolen in California, while the President said they disappeared when they were being shipped from Chicago. 2400 votes too disappeared.

Happily however the statuettes were found in a garbage can in the Koreatown neighbourhood of LA. The man who found them is a rubbish picker who makes a livelihood of recycling boxes. He apparently has a sense of humour too for he is reported to have commented after his find of the gold plated figures: "I’ve got more Oscars than any of the movie stars".

A tribute
A true friend in every sense of the word

Co-Secretary of S.L.A.Es 1991 - 1993 Member of the Steering Committee 01.04.1991 to Demise 15.03.1994

Some tributes from fellow members.

P.S.Gunasekera studied at Ananda College, Colombo, entered the University of Ceylon and obtained an Arts degree. He had a long career as a teacher and a principal. At the time of his retirement, he was Principal of Thurstan College, having received a well earned promotion in the SLE’s to reach Class 1.

P.S. was always very popular among his friends and colleagues and his willingness to undertake responsibility proved to be a great asset to the Grade I principal’s union which elected him as hony. secretary, year after year. Even when the Sri Lanka Association for the advancement of education was formed P.S. became the obvious choice for the post of secretary, a position he held with much acceptance. The association owes a deep debt of gratitude to him for the invaluable services rendered by him.

We would wish to refer to a rare challenge which P.S. negotiated so magnanimously in his quiet refined way. It was the big match about 10 years back between Thurstan and Isipatana, to be more precise the last few minutes of the match Thurstan was losing big matches are played in the most competitive spirit by the players and in this instance, very fiercely by the supporters too. A Thurstan loss could be avoided only by disrupting the match, and this what happened, when large crowds invaded the ground and made play impossible match inevitably had to be abandoned). Thurstan supporters fell jubilant that the game ended that way. But for P.S. the principal of Thurstan the match was not for over, there was no jubilant feeling. Instead there were some simple things to be said. Yet it was not a quiet assembly he was addressing. He was extremely sorry for what happened. He also said that he was awarding the match to Isipatana, and he did that assuming his power in its deepest purity.

In cricket administration that was the most elegant stroke played for sometime in Sri Lanka. We would remember (and not forget) this precious moment of his and would ask cricket and cricket administrators to share the memory with us.

My tribute to P.S. Gunasekera - the appearance of P.S. bespoke of a delicate constitution, but in physical activity and mental alertness, he was a giant, so that we his friends, never thought that he would ever be spent or snuffed out. One of the main reasons for SLAAED’s commitment to education being translated into action was P.S. who fuelled the programme to activity. Values it is often said are going to be as cleadas the Dodo, but looking at P.S. there’s hope that there are indeed some persons in our corner of the world who have the spirituality of character to lead the rest of us onto positive things.

Death is inevitable since life is synonymous with change; the example left by P.S., the indomitable life person who refused to be subdued by illness is one, the rest of his friends and I would cherish. Loyalty and commitment and dedication as P.S. was concerned, whether as a teacher, principal and educator, ceased to be mere words. They stood out like milestones in his life. What we wish you, P.S., is eternal peace you richly deserve, and may the blessings that ensure from your earthly life be a comfort and solace to Irene and your loving children.

I knew P.S. from his Varsity days, but came into much closer contact with him in the Principals’ Association, and later at SLAAED. He was the livewire behind them - his enthusiasm and perseverance never flagged.

For the Principals’ Association, one regular meeting place was Thurstan, and more often than not the verandah of his palatial bungalow. Many were the hours spent deliberating on school related problems. A.L. syllabuses, anomalies in University admissions, teachers’ and students’ I remember and there in the background was his ever smiling wife Irene and his son Irusha serving us with several rounds of tea.

He will always remain in our hearts as a true friend in every sense of the word.

A tribute to P. S. Gunasekera - A. Miscellany. Excerpts from Shiksha Education Magazine of the SLAAED 1995.

An odyssey into the millennium

Text of the Presidential Address by Dr. Kolitha H. Sellahewa MBBS, MD, FCCP, on his induction as President of the Ceylon College of Physicians on 6th February 2000.

In this presidential address on an odyssey into the new millennium I shall first highlight some of the advances in medical technology that had taken place in the last century, and then explore the exciting impact of science and technology, which will overwhelm us in the field of medicine in the new millennium, and the challenges to be encountered in the wake of this technological explosion. We shall then view the current scenario of some of the problems we face as general physicians, and I shall end this presentation by making a few broad-based recommendations aimed at resolving some of the current burning issues as well as the emerging problems

Disease is as old as mankind. It was Hippocrates (400 BC) the famous Greek Physician, the father of modern medicine who began to rationalize western medicine. His rational approach dispelled the myths that shrouded the practice of medicine in that era. Ever since then the transition from the use of herbs, charms and various other forms of primitive medicine to high tech medicine has been phenomenal. It was during the second half of the last century that technological advances really took off the ground. Its greatest impact on the practice of medicine was in the last decade.

We now live in an era where there has been a tremendous explosion in technology, and this is bound to take monstrous proportions in time to come. As we enter the new millennium we should take stock of the medical advances in the latter part of the last century, and see where we are heading now.

The 20th century has seen a global transformation in human health unmatched in history. The decline in mortality has been dramatic. Income growth and improved educational level and the consequent increase in food intake and sanitation have accounted partly for the mortality decline. But more importantly access to new knowledge, drugs and vaccines have contributed to this decline.

Since 1960 a myriad technological advances have been made that have fostered an entirely new approach to scientific investigations. Determination of the genetic code, DNA cloning techniques, DNA and protein sequence technology, monoclonal antibody technology, and polymerase chain reaction are a few examples of these technological advances. In oncology the discovery of oncogenes and oncogenic viruses have contributed significantly to our understanding of the molecular etiology and the progressive development of certain cancers.

New dimension

All these advances in biotechnology as well as technological advances such as computers, Internet, Telemedicine, Computerized tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging, Positron emission tomography, Ultrasonic scanning and lasers have added a completely new dimension to medical diagnostics and therapeutics.

However, it is rather ironic that all these successes of the 20th century seems to have imposed a double burden of diseases that health systems must address in the 21st century.

We have now stepped into and are ready to traverse the 21st century. What then are the challenges of this journey for a general physician?

The early decades of the 21st century will have to shoulder the burden of two aspects of diseases.

1. The emerging epidemics of non-communicable diseases and injuries.

2. Some of the major infectious diseases which survived the 20th century.

Depression, heart diseases, injuries and malignant neoplasms will take epidemic proportions rivalling traditional enemies like infections and malnutrition, which dominated the last century.

Cardiovascular diseases like ischaemic heart diseases and strokes as well as cancers will be the leading non-communicable diseases. Ischaemic heart diseases will be the largest single cause of disease burden globally by the year 2020. While the disease burden of non-communicable diseases was 43% in 1998 it will be a staggering 75% by 2020. As we enter the 21st century we have to be fully cognizant of this very significant epidemiological change.

The factors accounting for this epidemiological transition are:

1. Population aging
2. Tobacco
3. Physical inactivity.
4. Obesity.

5. Heavy alcohol consumption. In fact alcohol use is the leading cause of disability for men in developed countries, and the 4th leading cause in developing countries

6. Civil conflict
7. Urbanization
8. Globalization

Other than aging all these are modifiable risk factors, and address the need for modifications of life style. This is one of the most important issues we need to recognize and take stock of as we move into the new millennium, i.e. there is an overwhelming need to modify life style.

Evolving Challenges

Despite the eradication of small pox and control of several infectious diseases in the last century malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis will continue to remain as evolving challenges. Civil conflict and large-scale human migration, climatic and environmental change, growing insecticide and drug resistance have combined to contribute to the resurgence of malaria.

Tuberculosis accounts for 25% of preventable mortality among young people in developing countries. The tubercle bacillus infects about 1.8 billion people. An expanding global population, inappropriate or inadequate treatment, increases transmission. Assault by HIV has aggravated the situation, which alone will account for 14% of cases in this century. It is estimated that 70 million people will die of tuberculosis with in the next two decades unless urgent action is taken to curb this threat.

Ten top causes of death and disability1990

1. Respiratory Infections
2. Diarrhoeal diseases
3. Complications of birth
4. Severe depression
5. Heart disease
6. Stroke
7. Tuberculosis
8. Measles
9. Traffic accidents
10. Congenital anomalies

2000

1. Heart diseases
2. Severe depression
3. Traffic Accidents.
4. Stroke
5. Chronic Pulmonary disease.
6. Respiratory infections
7. Tuberculosis
8. War injuries
9. Diarrhoeal diseases
10 HIV/AIDS

(Projections from the Harvard School of Public Health)

New viruses are coming out of nature. Ebola in Ivory Coast, Andes, Hepatitis F. ang G. Nipah and Oscar virus, Black lagoon virus, West Nile virus, just to name a few and the list goes on and on.

Exceedingly powerful mutant bacteria are detected which cannot be treated by antibiotics. When the population soars and gets densely packed it helps viral outbreaks. This is what will happen in the course of this century. There will be a marked increase in the number of tropical mega cities i.e. huge densely packed cities in developing countries.

In 2015 there will be 26 mega cities in Bombay, Lagos, Dhaka, Karachi, etc. The population in Bombay alone will be a massive 26 million

In 2030 60% of the world’s population will be in urban areas. Therefore each one of these cities with a population of about 30 million people with impoverished medical care; basic sanitation and hygiene will facilitate the spread of viral diseases. A densely populated mega city will be like a ticking biological time bomb. Adding to the travails, people would be travelling rapidly by airplanes carrying these diseases from one part of the globe to another. The human species will thus become a Biological Internet with fast connections.

A virtually indestructible bacterium has been discovered, Deinoccocus radiodurans which can withstand thousands of doses of gamma radiation lethal to humans. So the future looks bright for bioweaponeers.

The 20th century has lived through the nuclear bomb and much economic and scientific progress was made. The 21st century will see the spread of biological weapons. But we need not worry as the defenses against these are also improving. The 21st century will see the development of better vaccines and devices to identify infectious agents with in seconds.

The common cold may be history by mid century. The discovery of the protein M2 in all the strains of flu has paved the way to the development of a vaccine against all the flus. Research on similar lines could produce a universal cold vaccine by the year 2025.

Progress in neurology

The progress in neurology in the last decade has been astounding. Damage to the central nervous system was long conceived to be permanent and irreversible. Substances have now been isolated from the spinal cord, which appear to block growth. This explains why the central nervous system cannot heal itself. Development of antibodies, which neutralize these growth blockers, allows regeneration.

Harvesting Schwann cells from peripheral nerves and transplanting them to the site of a spinal injury will provide a bridge across the wound. Reversing paralysis could thus be a reality by the year 2025

Brain stem cells when injected, rapidly sought the injured part of the cortex like heat seeking missiles and transformed into healthy neurons. Cures by brain transplants even to massive areas of cortical damage as in stroke may be within our grasp during the course of this century.

Active ways of treating damaged brains will be a reality by 2020.

Plasticity of the brain is increasingly recognized, so that there could be a potential cure for even damaged psyches.

Gene therapy

New molecular pathophysiological information is utilized to create innovative effective and rationally designed therapies. Gene therapy is one such innovative therapeutic approach that has evoked a lot of excitement in the recent past. Gene therapy entails:

Elimination of pathogenic genes

Replacement or supplementation of defective genetic material

Introduction of new genetic material to create a desirable new phenotype.

The impact of these technological advances would be that we will be able to prevent, treat and cure not only inherited disorders, but acquired diseases as well.

The human genome project is expected to complete the decoding of the entire human genome of 140,000 genes by 2003. Scientists would have found exactly where common disease causing errors lie along the genomes interlocked chains of DNA. The impact of these exiting technological advances would be that recording of the genetic profile on a chip will permit development of computerized diagnostic tools to determine exactly the level of risk for a particular disease and which protein and enzymes are lacking. Patients will thus receive customized prescriptions. Gene therapy will soon take a new turn. Rather than repair defective genes to cure diseases the tendency would be to determine what proteins the broken genes should be producing and replace them instead.

For e.g. the protein vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF2) will restore circulation in the legs of diabetics and stimulate new vessel growth in patients with severe heart disease.

Genetically engineered drugs will replace the scalpel for removal of tumours or cosmetic surgery.

The human genome project will have an unprecedented and long lasting impact in the development of highly accurate DNA based medical diagnostics and therapeutics. However good things will not be cheap. So we can conceive a situation in 2025 when we will be going to the pharmacy with our gene cards and credit cards.

At the beginning of the last century life expectancy in the USA was 47 years. At the turn of the century it has advanced to 76 years. So the question of whether we will reach ripe old age which was what mattered in the last century will no longer be a concern in the 21st century. The problem of aging will take a different turn, it will not be a question of reaching old age but what will be the quality of life in old age. The population of the elderly is expected to double by 2025. The number of Americans 100 years old or more could be 850,000 by 2050. Some scientists predict that by 2100 people could live to be 200 years. This could be achieved by manipulating longevity genes, which Benzar calls Methuselah. Age related diseases would also increase. Dementia in USA alone will rise from 4 million to at least 8 million.

In 2025 20% Of the Sri Lankan population will be over 60 years and there will be a consequent increase in the incidence of strokes (300,000) and dementia (200,000)

The economic burden imposed for the care of the aging population has been calculated to be 1% growth in the economy for each year added to the life span.

Real Life Situation:

Having romped through some of the medical advances in the turn of the century and conceived where the world is now heading let us for a moment pause and recognize the real life situation as it exists in a general medical unit in the state sector.

1. Overcrowding is an eternal and ubiquitous problem.

2. Alcoholism is a growing problem. Majority of medical casualties are alcohol related, Alcoholic liver disease accounts for 79% of all liver disorders in a medical unit (Annual Health Bulletin 1997) In addition we often see the full array of alcohol related physical disability.

3. Poisoning due to a variety of plant, animal, and chemical toxins is exceedingly common. Caring for these patients drains limited resources.

4. Cardiorespiratory diseases. Patients with myocardial infarctions, cardiac failure hypertensive emergencies and acute severe asthma occupy most of the high dependency beds.

5. Patients with diabetes and its complications are invariably present.

6. Adding to these travails are the destitute who find a convenient abode in the medical wards

7. The infirm and the debilitated also demand a lot of care and attention.

8. Heroin addicts are rampant. Majority is of the young age group

9. Patients with chronic pulmonary disease, are on eternal medical tours, looking for a cure which is hard to find.

10. Stroke patients are regularly found.

Recommendations:

Against this scenario what recommendations could we make to improve the quality of patient care? What is envisaged is a three pronged strategy. The problem has to be addressed at:

1. Changing national policy
2. Educating the public
3. Improving the quality of health care providers

Planners of national health policy will not be fully aware of the real life situations existing in a ward setting. Clinicians in the peripheries who are in the front line facing the brunt and fully cognizant of these situations should be consulted in national policy making.

Access to care and legislation should be addressed at a national level. The time is ripe to make radical changes in the health system. Rectification of the wide disparity of the availability and application of sophisticated technology and expertise across the country is a point of issue.

1. Establishment of a proper system of admissions to all hospitals based on the extent of care that could be provided at each level is the most sensible solution to the ubiquitous problem of overcrowding and all its deleterious consequences like the inadvertent lapses in the quality of patient care, dilution of attention and neglect of the critically ill, wastage of drugs and resources, impolite and inadequate rapport with patients and relations by the medical and other health care personal, as well as a break down in the maintenance of cleanliness.

A referral system should be integrated to the admission policy, which will ensure that the most appropriate care is accessible to all across the country.

1. Properly functioning accident and Emergency Treatment Units should be established in all hospitals. This is an area needing urgent attention. Emergency Treatment Units should serve the function for which it is built and equipped. These units should be manned by personnel who are trained and competent in emergency medical care. One centre with expertise should provide an organized system of training and certification, thereby ensuring the application of consistently uniform techniques of emergency care across the country by trained competent personnel.

2. With the growing increase in coronary artery disease in the society there would be an increased risk of myocardial infarction and sudden death. A large number of these deaths can be prevented by the rapid entry into an emergency medical services system. Prompt provision of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and the value of early defibrillation are well recognized in reducing mortality. The emerging epidemic of trauma compounds the need to establish an organized system of emergency medical services.

3. Emergency medical services systems must be established at several levels.

1. Facilities to provide prompt basic and advanced cardiac life support for indoor patients irrespective of the speciality.

2. In Emergency Treatment Units

3. In the community. The challenge for the new millennium would be to establish the infrastructure to provide this care.

4. We need to revive and reinforce our rich culture and heritage and thereby savour the tranquillity that blends with it. Family ties will be stronger and more closely knit. Children will no longer grow up deprived of maternal love and care and the society will be more stable. This will provide an effective long-term solution to the alarmingly increasing trend in suicide and depression, which will head the list of the emerging epidemics of non-communicable diseases.

5. The availability of psychiatric expertise in all regions is an essential solution in the short term. The common practice of discharging patients, who have attempted suicide, soon after the acute medical problem is resolved, is far from satisfactory. The impracticality of detailed counselling of all these patients in a very busy medical ward with a rapid turn over of medical emergencies is a realistic problem we need to contend with. The appointment of social workers who will have the training, expertise and the time for counselling in the ward setting is strongly recommended to overcome this problem.

5. The quality of laboratory services needs much to be desired. In this age and time the reliability of even common and simple tests like a total and differential white cell count, fasting blood sugar, or serum electrolytes needs a lot to be desired. This is an area where technological support should be maximally utilized along with trained competent staff who could provide consistently reliable reports on which physicians could act. A lab regulatory authority should be appointed.

6. The role of the diet in the pathogenesis of numerous disorders ranging from ischaemic heart disease to cancers is well recognized. The emergence of a new industry nutraceuticals, competing with the pharmaceutical industry in the millennium is a distinct possibility. In the light of these developments we, Sri Lankans need to look back and revive our traditional diets, which have all the ingredients for good health. The rapid growth of fast food outlets and the destruction of our foliage by subtle unsavoury western influences should be discouraged and strongly resisted, if we are to curb the emerging epidemics of Diabetes and Ischaemic Heart Disease. Our traditional diet is a readily available answer to control these epidemics.

7. All doctors should be encouraged and supported to carry out research. Every rupee spent on reducing any disease would mean thousands of rupees saved both in keeping the person economically active and also saving in providing treatment and care. We should find answers to our problems. The vision for the practice of medicine in the millennium should be discovery based rather than purely information based, of which there would be a plethora consequent to the monumental expansion, ease of communication and access to information which need not necessarily be the most appropriate of an individual patient situation.

8. Efforts on preventable deaths from snakebite need reinforcement. Development of specific antivenin against krait and hump nosed viper is an urgent requirement, as much as the training and provision of facilities for bag and mask ventilation at the field level in regions where krait bite is common.

9. Prevention of rabies by using vaccines and serum has been exceedingly costly. In 1995 over 600,000 US dollars were spent on anti rabies vaccine alone. Control of the stray dog population is an option available to prevent Rabies. We need not transgress accepted norms and tread onto sensitive areas in a predominantly Buddhist country, in order to control the stray dog population. Proper disposal and removal of garbage is a realistic proposition to the elimination of stray dogs and control of this dreaded disease with out advocating the killing of stray dogs. Proper elimination of garbage should be the responsibility of every citizen in this country

10. Patient education and provision of optimal facilities for interim therapy particularly inhaled steroids, is an urgent requirement to reduce admissions related to asthma exacerbation.

11. The importance of screening for hypertension rather than patients requesting for more fashionable lipid profiles to prevent strokes needs to be stressed. Equally important is the need to ensure compliance of therapy, as our experience is that most stroke victims are hypertensive who were aware of their hypertension but had defaulted therapy owing to false information, inappropriate advice, and the non availability of drugs at affordable prices.

The Ceylon College of Physicians, the Sri Lanka Medical Association, and other academic bodies must take the lead role in the formulation and implementation of these recommendations. Responsibility should be vested in the academic colleges of the respective specialities to ensure that the quality of the care providers is improved. The following steps are recommended to achieve this objective.

1. A scheme of accreditation should be developed for Continued Medical Education

2. Peer review committees should be appointed to monitor adverse patient outcomes that fall outside the accepted standards of care.

3. Standard of care must be uniform across the country. Standardized simple one page management protocols for common problems should be made available, and information must filter to all levels. In this way a patient presenting with chest pain for instance to a remote district hospital will get the same appropriate basic care as one presenting with a similar problem to a hospital in Colombo

4. Ethics should be emphasized, starting in medical school.

Conclusion:

We are in the brink of plunging into an era where the impact of a monumental explosion of medical technology will overwhelm us. We physicians emerging from the depths of a very rich culture and heritage should be vigilant and cautious in the acceptance of all these technological advances. Due consideration should be given to it’s appropriateness for our prioritized issues, rather than the blind acceptance of all what is thrown to us from the west.

Human being is both mind and body of which the mind is the more important component. "Manno pubbanga ma dhamma mano seffa mannomaya" mind is foremost and mind is supreme. We need to ask whether technology can purify the mind. The wisdom of the sages should not be discarded as archaic with the advent of technological advances.

While conceding the indisputable importance of technology in the delivery of quality medical care, it is important that we keep the right balance between technology, clinical sense, intuitive judgement and spirituality and thereby provide optimal care of a humane nature. Medicine after all is both a science as well as an art, lest we reach a state where robots will take over our function.

Parting thought:

I have come to the end of my presentation in which I have attempted to share with you all some of my experiences and a vision for the new millennium, which will make us all better physicians geared to face the emerging challenges.

At the end of the day, we need to ask, what makes us good physicians, It is not merely academic excellence, skills and competence we acquire over the years and the availability of a dangling array of sophisticated technology, and information, it is good ethical conduct as well. However it is very sad to say that these ethical values are fast eroding among the medical profession and it is bound to get worse in a highly competitive materialistic society continually bombarded with more and more technology. A resurrection from this dangerous trend is a dire need and does not require elaborate ethical guidelines, it is all left to the individual and all these ethical values and conduct can be embodied and crystallized into one thought.

Let me now leave you with this parting thought.

We are all a part of nature; inextricably woven together and there is only one force and one law that govern all of us. i.e. natural force and natural law, so what we are doing all the time is conditioning our own future. The wise who are fully aware and cognizant of this indisputable concept will exercise all the time, including our day to day professional work; Right Thoughts, Right Words, and Right Actions. It is then, and only then can we expect on the basis of this invincible natural law for our sojourns into the new millennium and beyond to be justly rewarded.

Life Insurance — the safety net we all need today

By Chandi Perera,
LUTC. Dip. LIM

"If I had my way, I would write the word ‘Insurance’ over the door of every cottage and upon the blotting book of every public man", said the great Winston Churchill, whose strategic thinking destroyed the huge Nazi war machine, ending one of history’s bloodiest wars, the Second World War.

Now, why would Churchill talk of Insurance?

Obviously, he had seen too much. The word ‘Insurance’ whether it is life or general, is treated with a dog-in-the-manger attitude by many who do not own insurance. Of these two, life insurance is definitely given a back seat in one’s thinking and life style. Reasons are many. The market is saturated, the general public usually hears too much about it, to care. Many are inundated with telephone calls by zealous life insurance agents at all odd hours of the day, thus making them sick to the bone, of owning life insurance. TV screams of varied products — thus creating so much of confusion in our minds. Therefore, we turn a deaf ear to life insurance.

To the contrary, we insure our car, we insure our computer, our house, and even our domestics have a special cover — in case we lose them. That’s an added incentive to their pay packet !!! Microwave is insured, and the blender stands tall on the newly designed pantry counter — screaming "I am insured"!!!

What about you?

In my career as a Life Insurance Advisor in a leading Life Insurance Company, many have I seen to promote this product. Many are the instances, I have heard the same excuse, "well, let me think about it later"! That ‘later’ never happens, unless I happen to call the person back and remind him. Generally, there is a lethargic feeling, when it comes to deciding on a life insurance policy. Is it because of the long term commitment to pay a premium? Or is it because the life insurance product is not a tangible one, where one knows, exactly what one is buying until, one has reached the ‘other shore’?

We all have an economic value on our lives. Your value and my value as an individual, a father, mother or the one who loves the family dearly, cannot be worked out. However, your economic worth to your family is in what you bring home month after month to keep that family alive and well. When you buy a life insurance, this is what you are trying to protect for your family. Yes, life insurance pays in death, in many cases Nevertheless, it pays in life too. You only have to select the best product for yourself.

Each one of us, has money-making capacity — either by operating our own business or working as a salaried employee. Our families depend on what we take home. A child looks at his father coming home after work, and their is hope, love, veneration and adoration in his or her little eyes. Why? The child knows, "here is the one who cares for me", and that little bundle is totally dependant on your capacity to provide for him.

Can you let him down?

What life insurance does is to protect your earning capacity or your salary for that number of years that you are capable of earning! Can you see the immense responsibility that lies on your shoulders? Just imagine, if this is lost to your family? If death should strike, can your family, complete the journey? How can your child go to the university? How can your daughter become a professional? Often we take life for granted. We go about our usual job, see friends and attend to all the little things that crowd our day and life. Little do we realize that we cannot take life for granted. Life insurance, gives you that safety net, in case of a fall, you don’t fall flat to ground level — it will hold you and your family up — it will give your family a whole new beginning. Your loved ones will not have to live on charity. Dreams will not turn into nightmares. They will still be able to hold their heads high and realize their dreams.

Now, that is life insurance!

Not only in death, life insurance upholds you in case of disability. Imagine a disable person who cannot earn. The family members not only have lost an income, they are burdened with the added responsibility of caring for a disabled person, who may need specialist medical care and attention. What happens? Medical bills accumulate, the little income the family has will vanish. This is worse than death itself. A carefully considered life insurance will provide for this too, where the disabled person will receive an annual income, free of any premium payment, for his or her needs, Isn’t that marvelous?

Death is only a matter of when and not if you cannot talk of life insurance without talking about death. My first interview with the life insurance company I worked with, was a thriller !!! The Managing Director shocked me with the question "Can you talk of death?" What, death? When I am well and kicking !!! I thought. The sanity of his question struck me only when I started talking to people about life insurance. Death is the last thing that you and I will think about, leave alone talk about. You and I are so busy living, and exerting so much effort to live, we don’t think about a tomorrow without us to our families. In a sense, we are all bionic people. We do so many things within a day’s work, yes we do not have the time to think about death. This is just a human phenomenon !!! But now, death is as real as daylight — we see it splashed across our TV screens, in our newspaper in banner headlines, all day long !!! Do take it seriously and provide, so that your family can live, even if you are not around.

I have seen many aspiring young professionals, fall by the way side and take up employment at a far lower level than their potential simply because the father failed to insure himself and died an untimely death. I have seen daughters given away at an early age, just because the widowed mother could not educate them further. Again, the father did not have the foresight to plan for their future without him. I have seen housewives take up employment alien to them, just because a husband did not possess life insurance at time of death.

On a positive note, I have seen families stand on their own feet, because the father planned well ahead for their future. I have seen shoes on tiny feet, food on the table and dignity in living, even after the father was no more, because he planned well ahead. Although we as a society has changed to a dual income earner families, the father still has a hold on the family. It is important he plans well ahead.

We all need life insurance in some form because our children need it from us. Their futures some day, may depend on its availability or non-availability. Would you like to leave to chance, a decision you can make today?

Once you have it, you will feel free like a bird. You know, even if you are not around, your loved ones will not be left out in the cold. I have had the pleasure of seeing young fathers buy life insurance with great zeal when their little one was still in the cradle! I have watched with amusement, a mother trying the explain why she is buying life insurance to an intelligent and inquisitive youngster. I have watched with pride a husband handing over his life insurance policy to his wife with gentle caring and witnessed tears well up in her eyes, in unexpressed love. It is all a matter of — how much does your family matter to youÉÉ

A word of caution though. Don’t be persuaded by a suave salesman to buy what he wants. Look around, compare, match it with your need and not the need of the salesman to achieve his target! Then buy.

Life insurance is a miracle. Take hold of it. Own it.

Do you love your family enough to take the decision?

Kaneru (Yellow Oleander Poisining) therapy breakthrough from Sri Lanka

The research studies conducted in Anuradhapura General Hospital and the Cardiology Institute in Colombo in 1998-1999 on Kaneru seed poisoning (Yellow Oleander — Thevetia peruviana) was published in the prestigious, The Lancet journal released this week. This article has received worldwide interest and AFP/Reuters reported this as a welcome news for the oleander poisoned patients in Australia, Germany and United States of America in particular for the oleander Poisoned patients in those countries. The internet edition of The Lancet too gave prominence to these research studies.

The drug developed and field tested to international clinical trial standards locally and called KaneruTab injections has been completed and, reports presented to the Ministry of Health last year. It is awaiting purchase and distribution to the provinces where the problem is biggest viz North Western and North Central Provinces and possibly Northern Province.

The Principal Investigator Prof. Rezvi Sheriff, Professor of Medicine, University of Colombo was awarded the Sri Lanka Medical Association oration which he delivered in Kandy. In view of the Global impact of these finding he will be interviewed by Barbara Myers on "Health Matters" programme in the BBC World Service next week.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of USA who control drug registration and import into USA will visit Sri Lanka next month on an FDA Inspection of the drug Trial before introducing the drug to USA. This is the first instance of a Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial of a drug developed and tested for local use which has received the recognition, of the FDA to consider importing into USA. This is considered a good achievement by the University of Colombo who gave leadership and coordinated the studies with the collaboration of Universities of oxford, Liverpool, Tab Co. Ltd (UK) and Fauldings Co Ltd (Sri Lanka) with the backing and support of the Ministry of Health and the many doctors who helped in General Hospital Anuradhapura and the Institute of Cardiology, Colombo.

The team of local researchers included Dr. Senaka Rajapakse, Dr. Sajeewa Jayalath, Dr. K. Rajakanthan, Dr. W S Santharaj, Dr. PN Thenabadu, Dr. S. A. M. Kularatne, Dr. Ariyarani Ariyaratnam whilst the UK Team consisted of Prof. David Warrell, Dr. Michael Eddleston, Dr. Lena Sjostrom, and Dr. David Theakstone. Professor Rezvi Sheriff, Professor of Medicine, University of Colombo was the Principal Investigator who gave leadership and successfully coordinated this project.

It is hoped that once the drug is available for use in the local hospitals in North Western Province, North Central Province and Northern Province that Sri Lanka can reduce the deaths from Kaneru Poisoning which now stands at 10%. One in 10 persons who ingest Kaneru now die in Sri Lanka and this could be reduced to one in 100 or more. There is an estimated number of nearly 1000 admissions due to Kaneru poisoning islandwide every year. We should then be able to come down in our global rankings as a country with the highest suicidal death rates only next to Hungary.

Ravindra bares his soul on attacks against artistes

From Sujeeva Nivunhella - Our London Corr.
Popular film actor Ravindra Randeniya was in London last week for the screening of Vasantha Obeyesekera’s ‘Theertha Yathra’. Below is an interview given by Ravindra Randeniya to our London Correspondent Sujeeva Nivunhella.

Q: It is a well known fact that you have supported the UNP in the last Presidential election. What do you have to say about the present political situation in Sri Lanka and what do you think about all these attacks that have taken place against artistes after the Presidential election?

A: Well, my support to the opposition have been for a very long time. I have not blindly supported it. I have felt that affairs of the country could be better managed by a UNP administration than any other. During the last election I gave certain limited support to the UNP. I helped in the media campaign and I was helpful in getting some artistes organised. I limited my participation in the campaign.

Regarding what happened after the elections, I think we have our reservations. The present government has openly announced that it is interested in restoring democratic rights in our country. It came to power by criticising violence of the previous regime and that was the theme of the government during all their election campaigns

Their aim is to do that and that is how they got the support of the masses. You could see that during that time most of the artistes either supported the PA campaign or were neutral for instance like myself although I was not a PA supporter. I did not go against it.

We thought if the majority of the people think that there had to be a change we couldn’t go against it. So with lots of hope the government came to power and since that time we find that what were so largely spoken about is being ignored. Violations of people’s rights is being considered by the government in a very sarcastic or in a way that they don’t have any regard for it. During the election campaign artist’s who were supporting and campaigning for the UNP were assaulted brutally in broad day light and this was all in video how the attack was carried out, there were people giving evidence that this was carried out by certain PA strongmen in that area. With all the evidence upto now there hasn’t been any arrest or any proper investigation into the matter with so much evidence being available to them to carry out a proper investigation.

Immediately after the election there were several threatening calls and various other threats received by people who supported the UNP campaign. Anoja Weerasinghe, appeared in a couple of meetings and that was the only contribution she made towards the campaign but from the time the elections were over there were so many threats. Life was made impossible for her and then on X’mas ever or 25th morning , a group of people entered her house, fired shots, threw bombs, and smashed up furniture, telephones and went away. They had sophisticated weapons. After one week Anoja fled to India. She could not live in Sri Lanka with this kind of things. Then when she was in India, another gang had come in vehicles, put petrol to her house and completely burnt the house down.

Rukantha’s house was attacked. He went to America. Three days later his house was attacked, his hair was cut, his wife’s hair was cut then they put diesel and petrol and threatened to set them on fire and took away their jeep. Upto now nothing had been done to arrest these gangs. The government should definitely be in a position to find out the culprits who did this and to bring them to book. Instead of that they are saying that these are all carried out as private vendettas. I have few questions to ask in that respect. In Sri Lanka where do people carry T-56 guns like a small platoon going in vehicles, entering houses and threatening and attacking people. If my house is attacked by some for some private reason isn’t that man violating the law of the country?

Isn’t he punished under the existing laws of the country? These questions we have to ask. What we say is if the government want to clear its name, it should do its best to bring these wrong doers to book. Instead of addressing this issue, I was very sad to read that recently a minister when he was questioned about this, he said, "these are all private matters. We are not concerned. We don’t want to go and attack these unknown artistes. If we were to attack we would have first attacked Ravindra Randeniya’s house". I am just asking what crime I have committed for a minister to say that. As a citizen of my country even if I have done something wrong the law is there to take care of that. The minister to say that he could have burned down my house is an atrocious statement.

He cannot even use me as an example to illustrate his point. Because I have my rights as a citizen of my country. No body can say that my house can be burnt down. No body built that house for me. I built it for me. How can a minister threaten to burn it down. We very strongly oppose these things and we cannot just keep quite when this kind of things being done.

Q: Were there any personal threats to you other than the minister’s statement?

A: There have been some telephone calls and things like that. At the same time some government people say, "look, don’t worry. Your house would not be attacked that we know". Then we begin to think where do we stand? Of course we live in fear. I have had to take the precautions of instructing my family, not to get involved. Because all we can think of is minimising the damage. If they consider that I have done a crime to be punished by this kind of violence, let me bare that. My family do not have to get involved. Let them do what ever they have to do to me and get out. So this is the kind of threat and fear under which we live.

Q: Isn’t it the minister’s statement a dangerous threat to the Freedom of Opinion and Expression in the country?

A: Certainly. What does it finally come to.

We people have not committed any crime, even during an election campaign we have participated. We have not thrown bombs at any one. We have not attacked any body. We have not assaulted or killed any one. We have not set fire. We have not damaged any property in the country. We have just exercised our rights. We have the right to express our free opinion, political or otherwise, what we think right or what we feel right. So if these people who have done that were attacked, definitely a threat to freedom of expression in the country. There is no other way you can explain it.

Q: When we talked about politics, great and popular actors like Gamini Fonseka, Vijaya Kumaratunga, Sanath Gunatilleke and Jeevan Kumaratunga were actively engaged or are being engaged in politics. Being a talented and popular actor in Sri Lanka, are you also going to take that path?

A: Well, I would like to explain my position this way. Lots of people have gone in to politics for different , different reasons. I don’t see this directly in reference to my colleagues who are in politics. What I want to first say is that lots of people say that the artistes should not take part in politics. I don’t think that is right. There is nothing wrong in these people taking part or actively getting in to politics and continuing as politicians. Some of them have been successful and some of them have not.

I don’t see any particular reason for me to rush in to a campaign and then try to get elected at this juncture. I think being an artistes we have to take an active part in defending the democratic rights of our country.

Q: Judging by your answer, you may defiantly contest a seat sooner or later.

A: Well, I would not exactly agree with you on that because my decision will be based on how democracy will fare in the future in our country. My participation for preserving the democratic rights may be through the exercise of parliamentary politics or may be through various other channels that are open to us as artistes. Definitely there will be certain expectations from the people if the basic human rights and democratic rights of our country are going down and down further. They will expect us to be involved in resting that decline some way. There is no immediate compulsion or any particular reason why I should sort of rushing to it at the moment. We have to wait and see how our country is going.

Q: If you are engaging in politics, is it with the UNP that you are going to engage with?

A: Well, I have been supporting that party for a very long time and that I don’t see any reason for me to change my political allegiance at the moment. But ideally I would prefer to get involved in a situation where there is a much broader consensus on the political front, the war and the reconciliation of that issue is of paramount important to us in this juncture. I would prefer to see a development of consensus between all political parties specially the two major parties and agree at least on a certain time frame on a agreed agenda and work together towards sorting out the major problem that is facing our country.

Q: You are a person who love your country and even prepared to get in to politics to safeguard the country. What do you think the solution to the present crisis, the on going war in Sri Lanka?

A: It is a very complicated and a very complex situation and I don’t think we can directly pin point and say there is the solution. All the people living in Sri Lanka not only the Sinhala community but, all other communities. So we got to arrive at a solution taking in to consideration all those factors. I don’t think by holding radical views we will be able to arrive at a solution. If we all can identify this as the major issue that has to be tackled and also not to please one party or one community. It has to be a long term solution. Peace for every one and that I think is the most important one and if I were to prepare a solution I think what we have to first get going is two major political parties should come together on an agreed agenda and start working towards it.

Q: If we turn in to Sri Lankan cinema, what do you think of the present situation in the Sri Lankan film industry?

A: The present situation as you all can see is not all that good. There had been continuous and consistent decline over the last may be 15 or 20 years. The cinema industry had made very strong representation to what ever the government that was in power up to now to take immediate and some constructive programme to improve the industry. But that has not been really looked into.

There have been peace meal solutions, patch work been done to correct it when a issue comes they just try to address that issue but the whole situation has been not viewed in a comprehensive way taking into consideration what is really wrong with the industry.

The latest things that this present government has done may be helpful but I think they also have to be incorporated in a very comprehensive programme encompassing all the aspects and find out real courses for this decline and then deal with it.

I think that is not been done. I don’t think in 1999, they would have produced more than 5 or 6 films. So it will be a kind of amateur cinema hereafter if we continue at this level. So this can be rested but lots of things have to be done and I haven’t still being able to satisfy myself to say that even now there is a genuine attempt to sort out the problems of the industry.

Q: There were so many changes at the top in the film corporation in the recent past. Lately Tissa Abeysekera was appointed. How do you see of that appointment?

A: Tissa is a film maker himself. He is being associated with the film industry for a long time and he should definitely know what can be done to put it right. Well he has been there for almost six months now. I think that is enough time for him to get himself oriented with what can be done through the corporation. In a corporation like that where you are a new comer, first he has to get himself acclimatized to what is happening there. I think Tissa has got enough time to do that. I hate to say that we might not see a result.

Q: There are allegations that Tissa had spent lots of money unnecessarily to buy some machines to produce videos. Have you heard about it?

A: This particular proposal I was also critical about it. I don’t know whether I have time to explain it in detail. Now the circuits are being broken in to four and given to the private sector. Films now released after this implementation of this new system will have only one fourth of the audience that was there earlier. So from 120 million, we will now be getting only 1/4 of that money. So the balance he is suggesting can be covered by producing VHS video tapes which I think is ridiculous because 90 million can never be covered even if we produce Titanic or Lion King in Sri Lanka. So that is not a practical proposal to begin with and the other thing is, I think VHS technology now is out dated. So huge investment in that direction may be a big waste.

Book Reviews
Comics - a fast track to English
A new approach to teaching and learning

By Arjuna Hulugalle
Comics for education has not been used in Sri Lanka. This is because Sinhala comics have concentrated exclusively on entertaining the readership. The positive fall-out from Sinhala comics for academics is mainly for sociologists to get an insight into the psyche of the public. This is by studying stories in comics. The contents and the spirit of successful stories with a wide readership often represent the current thinking of the population.

This article concerns itself with another function of comics. This is to use comics for a technique to facilitate the teaching and learning of English to pass exams and strengthen speech and writing skills. It involves five-steps which are given below:

Step - 1

Encourage students to read comics for pleasure. Readers will understand a text more easily if they find it intrinsically interesting. A comic is an excellent media for students at early stages of learning English and is a format that appeals to young readers. The illustrations help in understanding the text and holding the reader’s attention.

Get students to role-play at school using the bubbles for their dialogue with their fellow students and encourage them to do the same at home. Role-play means one person reads aloud the bubbles relevant to one character and another person/persons reads the bubbles of the other characters. In using this collective learning method one would find interesting and innovative solutions to problems of elocution, pronunciation, grammar, comprehension and vocabulary. Most of all it will be great fun.

Step - 2

Check general comprehension with questions similar to that given below.

• Students reply to True / False questions about the story.
• Students prepare True / False questions to ask each other.
• Students tell one another about what has happened in the story.
• Students write their own account of the incidents that have occurred in the story

Step - 3

Check detailed comprehension with questions similar to those given below

• Use cloze (gap fill) exercises to check students’ understanding of words in context
• Students match words with picture questions
• Students match words with their definitions
• Use comprehension questions & True / False questions to check students’ vocabulary

Step - 4

Consolidate learning with classroom activities:

• Select a story then cut it up into separate frames. Paste the frames onto sheets of paper. Students then sort the frames into the right sequence.

• Block out the speech bubbles by pasting pieces of paper over them, then write a number (1, 2, 3 .....) in each blank bubble. Ask the students to:

a: Sort the pictures into the right sequence
b: Invent appropriate dialogue for each of the speech bubbles

• In groups or pairs, students develop and write a narrative that describes the action. They paste the pictures from the comic next to the relevant text. Students list words to help them in this exercise.

• Ask students to keep an alphabetic vocabulary book. They add the new words they learn each week. They write in the glossary a sentence example of how the word or phrase is used in the comic. Before long they have a dictionary of their own.

Step - 5

Expand the ability to use English.

• Talk about the characters in the comic- who is their favourite, which one is liked least. Why?

• Make a quiz using the contents of the comic:

Guess the name of character on the basis of a description
Give facts and figures about comic stories

• Use information gap activities:

A student describes a character or a picture (I can see . . .) from the comic while another has to try to draw the picture

A student has to ask Yes / No questions to find out about the character the other student can see (Is it a man? Is he Mexican?)

You will find that a comic is invaluable for classroom work - and it will help your students improve their English. In fact it is a medium which can be used for teaching almost any subject effectively. Using the techniques, which have been set out above, GCE "O" Level students could practice and be able to handle comprehension at their examinations with excellent results.

The most famous comics presently circulating world -wide are Asterix and Tin-Tin. Both of them are not only interesting but give the reader information, knowledge and help to improve their command of the English language. These publications are, however, well beyond the purse of Sri Lankans.

With a single English comic printed and published in Sri Lanka it has been shown that 10 students can be activated in a class. A comic costs Rs 7.- to Rs 10.-.

New Handbook on HIV/AIDS for Communicators to help dispel common myths

A new Sinhala handbook on HIV/AIDS for communicators has been published by Sarvodaya Vishvalekha and Panos South Asia. The book, released in late 1999, focuses on the challenges that communicators face when writing and speaking about the global epidemic, and carries a wealth of information and practical suggestions on how to communicate with accuracy, balance and sensitivity.

The handbook, titled HIV/AIDS: Sannivedana Margopadeshaya (HIV/AIDS Communications Guide) is the Sinhala adaptation of an English publication that Panos has already brought out in several South Asian languages. The Sinhala version has been authored by Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, a public and community health specialist who teaches at the Medical Faculty of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.

HIV/AIDS has been called the first media disease and there is a great deal of media interest about it," says Dr. Ariyaratne. "Unfortunately, we find many distortions and inaccuracies in such coverage. Many of these arise from a fundamental lack of knowledge and understanding as to what this disease is, and what it is not. In this book, we have tried to clarify the basic factors and to dispel the myths as much as possible."

The book, meant not only for media professionals but all those who engage in public communication on the disease, also stresses the need for communicators to act with greater sensitivity and respect towards those affected with HIV/AIDS. "Among other things, we have pointed out that this is not a disease necessarily arising from sexual promiscuity, says Dr. Ariyaratne. "There are several ways one can contract the disease - blood transfusions and the sharing of intravenous needles among them - and it’s a fallacy to associate this disease with morality or the lack of it."

There is a lack of information and understanding on HIV/AIDS in Sri Lanka, says Professor Nandasena Ratnapala, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. "We try to live in denial, and some even want us to believe that we are somehow shielded from the disease," he said at the book’s launch at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute last month. "This is wishful thinking. With an estimated 14,000 commercial sex workers in the country, it is only a matter of time before we face a major crisis of HIV. Education and communication are among our best defences against the disease."

This book will help bring about communication that is clearer and more balanced. In simple and concise terms, the handbook presents the latest known medical information on the origins, spread and prevalence of HIV/AIDS. It then describes how the disease is contracted, and what happens to those affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The most frequently asked questions about the disease are answered in a non-technical language, and, in an appendix, several local sources are listed where authentic information can be obtained.

The most important part of this handbook, however, is the section that presents advice and suggestions on communicating about the disease and those affected by it. "People affected with HIV have human rights too," the book says. "They have a right to privacy, to health-care, and to other basic social services that everybody else is entitled to. The media simply cannot disregard these rights and ethics in the name of public interest."

Newspapers are among the worst violators of the ethics and rights of HIV affected persons, says Kunda Dixit, Director of Panos South Asia. "Some newspapers take great delight in covering blood, sex and scandal, and they seem to find all these elements in HIV/AIDS. Coverage has to mature beyond this level."

Dixit, a journalist who has covered the disease for several years from a pan-Asian perspective, sees a particular need to sensitise journalists working in the vernacular media. "Those working for the English language press have better access to information," he says. "This is why Panos supported the publication of this handbook in several South Asian languages."

The handbook has so far been published in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Nepali and Bangla versions. Each adaptation was written by a media or medical professional proficient in that language, with guidance from Panos. This book is part of a South Asian programme to raise media awareness and public understanding of HIV/AIDS supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Panos has also given several media fellowships and organised a regional workshop on the subject in 1998.

Panos, a non-profit organisation, specialises in producing and disseminating information on a range of development issues, including HIV. It works with media organisations and media professionals to ensure accurate and balanced coverage of these issues. Panos South Asia was established in 1997, and is based in Kathmandu.

The handbook is available from leading booksellers and from Sarvodaya Vishvalekha and is priced at Rs. 150. A limited number of copies are being distributed to media professionals and organisations free of charge. Requests for free copies should be directed to: Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, at Sarvodaya headquarters, 198, Rawatawatte Road, Moratuwa; Telephone: 075 524 752; Fax: 646 512. Copies are available for sale from the office of the Television Trust for the Environment (TVE) at No 24, First Lane, Koswatte Road, Nawala, Rajagiriya; Phone: 877 808; Fax: 074 403 443.

Note to Editors:

For more information on this media release and for review copies of the handbook, please contact: Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne at Sarvodaya on 075 524 752, or Mr. Nalaka Gunawardene at TVE office on 877 8O8.

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