Japanese team here to assess school health project

by L. S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

A group of Japanese medical experts and university dons arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday to assess the performance of the ten-year school Health Development Project being implemented in the south.

They will also explore the possibility of expanding the project to include poverty stricken areas in the country.

The members of the Japanese Expert Medical Group comprises Prof. Hiroshi Kobayashi, Prof. Emeritus Hokkaido University, Dr. Tetsuya Mizone and Dr. Daisuke Nonaka of the Tokyo International Medical Centre, Motoyuki Yuasa of the Tokyo Tuntendo University and Sayako Nakagawa of Mainichi Newspapers - Sapporo.

Prof. Hiroshi Kobayashi, DG, Sapporo of the Hokkaido Cancer Seminar Foundation said that schoolchildren in Sri Lanka had rendered a vital service to the country through the school-based project in preventing diseases such as cancer and blood pressure.

He said that their team had decided to spend three days in the Mulkirigala and Beliatta educational zones to evaluate the project performance with the students and the teachers at Kambussawela Maha Vidyalaya, Gatamanne Vijaya Central College, Muruthawela Maha Vidyalaya and Omara Maha Vidyalaya where the project had been implemented.