Novo Nordisk opens three Diabetes clinics

Novo Nordisk has opened three Diabetes Clinics which was part of the grant of Rs. 25 million to repair, rebuild and upgrade the diabetes care infrastructure.

General Hospital of Kandy, Teaching Hospital of Peradeniya and General Hospital of Badulla were the recipients of this grant by Novo Nordisk.

Five clinics have been opened by Novo Nordisk, with the first two at the Karapitiya General Hospital and National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo.

The company said "we would not be able to protect ourselves against another 'tsunami' of preventable non communicable diseases such as diabetes which is looming large on the horizon.

We need to take action now to protect the millions from developing diabetes to prevent yet another disaster. Hopefully these clinics will play a small but significant role to achieve that objective."

This was made known at a ceremony to mark the opening of the Diabetes clinics in Badulla, Peradeniya and Kandy.

Minister of Healthcare, Nutrition and Uva Wellasa Development, Nimal Siripala de Silva, thanked Novo Nordisk for the contribution and said "With improving health services provided by the state, the health status of the people has improved resulting in an increased life expectancy.

Since people's literacy rate is high, in Sri Lanka, the public is aware about diseases such as diabetes and its complications affecting all vital organs in the body. Early detection and continuous monitoring of diabetes can help a patient to be free of its complications affecting all vital organs in the body.

Early detection and continuous monitoring of diabetes can help a patient to be free of its complications."

Country Manager Sri Lanka Novo Nordisk Paul Amirtharaj said, "Soon after the tsunami we were very happy that our CEO announced a donation of 1.5 million DKK (Rs. 25 million) as Novo Nordisk's contribution to help Sri Lanka rebuild and upgrade its healthcare infrastructure.

In consultation with the Ministry of Health it was decided to use the fund to set up Seven Diabetes Care Clinics within the existing public healthcare system. We are very pleased to have completed five of these clinics and look forward to opening the next two shortly."

Dr. H.A.P. Kahandaliyanage, Director General of Health Services and G. Sathasivam, Chairman, Swiss Biogenics Ltd., Novo Nordisk's local partner, and Vish Govindasamy, Managing Director, presided over the inauguration.