Bugs Baer is credited with many witticisms, which are oft repeated. Once he quipped that "Not all women can wear slacks - but they do". Reading through The Island of 14th July, I was reminded of another of his wisecracks. He declared, "We are returning to the independent American way of reaching a decision by changing the subject."

I recalled this jest when I read the front page item of The Island that the Health Minister had called for the scrapping of the ‘Z’ score system as applied for the GCE ‘A’ Level exam.

The media is replete with disconcerting though remediable shortcomings of the Health Department like drug shortages in government hospitals, strikes by doctors for diverse reasons, severance of power supply to hospitals due to failure to pay bills on time, no water for the Ratnapura Hospital due to broken down pumps, threats from Dengue, Leptospirosis and more... Just as we wonder how the Health Department can meet the challenges, we see the Health Minister expending his energy on the ‘Z’ score, which is a matter in the purview of the Education Ministry. What next?

Joe Kerr,