No political promises fulfilled - Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera

The President of the Public Services United Nurses’ Union, Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera, stated that although politicians have made various promises, none of them has been fulfilled.

He made these remarks while attending an event held yesterday to mark International Nurses Day.

He said, “I thought this time we should hold this event without politicians. When politicians are invited, they only come to boast and leave, without fulfilling any of their promises. They come onto stages and make thousands of promises, but none of them is implemented. Today’s nurses, I believe, are somewhat neglected. We have always worked with the current governments to get things done. But no matter how many issues we present, they are not resolved. Whenever we discuss, we only receive political promises.”

He further added, “Today, we are welcoming you as the head of the Ministry of Health. Ministers come and go, but you are officials. Everywhere there are problems. Thousands of students are being recruited for training, but go and see whether they even have proper accommodation or lecture halls. Around 132 lecturers are reportedly missing. How can this system function like this? Everything we say to the Health Ministry is like playing a violin before deaf elephants.”

“Three nurses are now doing the work of one. Before assigning tasks, employees must be satisfied. Lord Buddha also said that preaching Dhamma to the hungry is not appropriate. Today, the Nursing Council is under the control of the Minister. Why is the International Nursing Council being brought under ministerial control? The Minister came to the Nightingale conference and made a promise that he would resolve issues quickly. Since the Minister is not here, I do not wish to continue further. We have been fighting for 29 years to establish a Nursing University; at least start it this year. Please go and tell him that the monk criticised these issues,” he added.

The event was also attended by the General Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association, Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Specialist Dr. Anil Jasinghe, who also expressed their views.