The Seva Vanitha Unit of the Foreign Ministry has presented medical equipment to the new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Nikaweratiya Base Hospital, upon a request of the Ministry of Health. Additional Secretary of the Ministry, Jayantha Palipane on behalf of the President of the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Foreign Ministry Deepthi Bogollagama, handed over the equipment to the Provincial Director of Health of the North Western Province, Dr. A.K.S.B. de Alwis and the Acting District Medical Officer, Dr. A.D.P.M.D. Athukorale, last Saturday (13th September 2008) at the hospital.

The donation of this urgently required medical equipment was made possible by Dr. Thomas H.C. Cheung, Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in Hong Kong and flown to Sri Lanka by the courtesy of SriLankan Airlines.

The equipment consists of a Philips Defibrillator, a Resmed C-Pap Machine and a Philips CTG Machine. The total value of medical equipment, including earlier donations made by the Foreign Ministry Seva Vanitha Unit to the ICU at the Base Hospital in Nikaweratiya now stands at Rs. 5 million.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Alwis conveyed his sincere thanks and appreciation to Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama and the President of the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Foreign Ministry, Deepthi Bogollagama, for their timely initiative in obtaining the medical equipment. Dr. Athukorale stated that this donation is particularly useful as it will enable the treatment of emergency patients at the hospital itself, as previously such patients had to be transported to more distant and better equipped facilities at considerable risk to their lives.