PERSONAL EXPLANATION BY HON. (DR.) RIZVIE SALIH — The Hon. (Dr.) Rizvie Salih - Deputy Speaker and the Chair of Committees

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I wish to clear my name from the totally false, malicious smear campaigns now trading on social media.

¶ 02 There is an allegation that I had falsely referred to myself as a specialist doctor. I wish to clearly state that during the last General Election, certain third-party workers featuring the names of common candidates of my party incorrectly referred to me as a specialist doctor. That term has never been used by me in my clinic letterheads, prescription pads, official seals, stationery or visiting cards. As soon as I became aware of this error in the common list of candidates for Colombo, I instructed the relevant individuals to halt the distribution of those materials and to ensure that no further circulation occurred. However, by that time, some of the leaflets had already been distributed. Furthermore, any of us who have addressed political meetings, big or small, know that those introducing us, sometimes, exaggerate us with glorified titles or comparisons, which is unfounded.

¶ 03 I also want to make myself clear that I possess a Postgraduate Diploma in ENT Surgery. That was in the era when the Ministry of Health along with the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine selected doctors, after having competitive exams among them, for courses of study, awarded them diplomas in their relevant fields and sent them to man the base hospitals which mainly lacked those specialities. At that time, there were exams held to recruit doctors for training under specialized units in main hospitals. There were diplomas in child health, ophthalmology and laryngo-otorhinology and even anaesthetists were trained and awarded diplomas so that they could go and manage base hospitals where such specialties lacked and such consultants were not available. Likewise, I was also selected after a competitive exam by the Ministry of Health and trained as a DLO surgeon to serve in such hospitals.

¶ 04 My last appointment in the government health sector was as ENT Surgeon in the Base Hospital, Nuwara Eliya. The Nuwara Eliya Base Hospital caters to a wide segment of the estate population, very useful contributors to the economy of this country. But, it is sad to say that in that era more than now, they were highly compromised healthcare-wise. We performed surgeries, which were life-saving. Whenever there is an airway obstruction, Hon. Speaker, you, as a doctor, know how important a surgical procedure a tracheostomy is for the removal of that foreign body from the airway, which, otherwise, would certainly cause death, and there is no time to transfer the patient to another hospital. From the Nuwara Eliya Base Hospital, the ambulance has to go all the way to the Peradeniya Hospital and there was no time for such transfers as it would have certainly caused death. Therefore, I am glad that the Ministry of Health along with the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine made that wise decision at that time to train us with such specialities so that we could be sent to make a contribution at the base hospitals. So, that was my last posting.

¶ 05 I again wish to reiterate that since 2019 when the Sri Lanka Medical Council brought in regulations to have specialists registered or even before that, I never identified myself as an ENT surgeon or an ENT specialist.

¶ 06 However, in Nuwara Eliya, you could imagine, when I walked into the ENT clinic, they addressed me as "ENT surgeon". When the doctor with a Diploma in Opthalmology -DO- walks into the eye clinic, they address him "eye surgeon". Even the doctors with a DCH -Diploma in Child Health- are called "paediatricians" there. I never advocated them to call me ENT sugeon, but what were I to do when they did? I was not going to knock on the heads of the patients who called me that. They might call me "ENT surgeon" and that is wrong nomenclature, but that is the fact I could point out. So, I think somebody who probably knew me from that time went and included that title in the poster. That was a poster for the common candidates from my party, with which I had nothing to do. But, the very little canvassing material that I printed never carried that title.

¶ 07 Another malicious allegation is that I am not a doctor and that I am not even registered to practise in Sri Lanka! I categorically state that that claim is blatantly false, misguided and misleading. To set the record straight, I would like to say that I hold a valid Certificate of Registration from the Sri Lanka Medical Council, which unequivocally states in black and white that I am lawfully entitled to practise medicine and surgery in Sri Lanka. That certifice, like all the Sri Lanka Medical Council-issued certificates, needs to be validated every five years with a payment of a fee. Sir, you know that and I have done that validation five times since I first received it. My private general practice is registered in the Colombo Central under my name. My SLMC registration, in turn, is validated every year by the Private Health Services Regulatory Council attached to the Ministry of Health. I would like to say that the Provincial Director comes, inspects my clinic, inspects my documents, goes through the procedures in my dispensary and the little laboratory I have and makes sure that everything is in order before it is validated. I have always conducted myself professionally in my public life with transparency and honesty and I welcome scrutiny. Finally, I thank you, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to address this matter, whether it stems from genuine concern or malicious intent. Sir, I table the relevant documents.

¶ 08 Hon. Speaker, we have significant challenges ahead and I hope our collective focus will shift to addressing the pressing issues which truly matter for the progress and prosperity of this nation.

¶ 09 Thank you.