Comrade Ajith Kumara tried system change at the Parliament with grenades in 1987 & during the commotion Minister Keerthi Abeywickrema paid the price & Minister Athulathmudali lost his spleen (Ref. Media). Ajith who later settled in Matale must be happy as the people democratically granted his wish in 2024. Ranil Wickremasinghe who witnessed Ajith’s attempt has blocked blood vessels & blood links to Meedeniye Maha Adikaram (Ref. Media). The Wolverhampton community wouldn’t have imagined that their meeting with Ranil would trigger talks ranging from arrests during Adikaram’s days, Ranil’s heart valves & the need to change systems including public health management.

Chinese lessons in Health Policy upgrades

China's National Health Commission (NHC) last week released the 2025 edition of the guideline for palliative care practice. Palliative care focuses on terminally ill patients & their families through a multidisciplinary approach. Key areas include pain & symptom management, comfort care, psychological, spiritual & social support. Those who know that most Sri Lankans are struggling to meet the ends might approve above approach. Those who aren’t that serious may be happy to know about how Chinese researchers successfully transplanted a gene edited pig lung into a human body marking a world's first. Scientists believe that Xeno transplantation (use of animal organs in humans) would help ease global demand for human organs. Although earlier efforts focused on kidneys, hearts & livers, lungs seems to be more challenging due to the delicate structure, high blood flow, & constant exposure to the outside air etc. (Ref. Nature Medicine journal).

China’s medical system is experiencing unprecedented changes with cutting edge developments such as brain computer interfaces (BCIs) & surgical robots etc. Analysts forecast that China's BCI market will exceed 835 million USD by 2028 as BCI technology is expected to bring new hope to persons with blindness, aphasia & provide therapeutic options for Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, depression & autism (Ref. Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University). The 2025 Green paper on China's medical devices reports that the industry has expanded at an average annual rate of more than 12% over the past ten years reaching a market size of 187.9 billion USD in 2024. Being the world's 2^nd largest single country market & home to the highest number of manufacturers, China has the world’s most comprehensive product range exporting medical equipments to more than 9000 medical institutions in approx. 190 countries during 2024 (Ref. China International Conference on Medical Equipment Cooperation).

Cleaning Sri Lankan valves

Sri Lankans have been usually keen on cleaning state valves especially before elections since 1948. The trend so far indicates a misguided & a forgetful electorate. A foreigner analyzing social media might think that supporters of Lankan political parties are after Xeno transplants as they compare each other to animals. Population is the heart of the country & Green papers are a good tool for them to take the country forward. Green papers are consultation documents produced by the government. The aim of these documents is to allow people inside & outside Parliament to give respective departments a feedback on its policy or legislative proposals (Ref. British Parliament). Lankans should use their human brains to check & clean the national valves to upgrade the system. China’s Belt & Road is a never before tool in that effort. President Ranil known for his ‘White’ papers (Education 1981& AI 2024) may have forgotten to clear his heart valves & may clean them. However, all political parties should study & write more ‘Green’ papers if they wish to change the system.

Views expressed are personal. Photo source www.