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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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A new hospital for Uva-Wellassa by Dr. James Lace Northwest Medical Teams International (NWMTI) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health to build a new hospital in Siyambalanduwa. This hospital has been designated as a Tsunami Affected Hospital. The tsunami of December 26, 2004, has brought out the problems with this hospital and how poorly it was equipped to deal with the overwhelming volume of injured and dying patients from this disaster. NWMTI has been providing medical support in times of disasters in 57 countries since 1979. NWMTI was in Sri Lanka immediately after the tsunami hit the country to offer medical care to the injured people. NWMTI donated over 26 million US dollars of worth medicine to aid in the disaster response phase. It also supplied medical teams to help care for the injured people. As the events of the tsunami disaster unfolded, it became apparent to NWMTI that it could provide more than disaster response assistance. The attention of the world was focused on countries like Sri Lanka, and aid money was contributed to help. The health infrastructure was also damaged and it became apparent that the country could benefit in the long run from a reconstruction and rehabilitation phase that would run over the next 5-10 years. NWMTI heeded this call for assistance and developed a long-range plan to establish a division that would be based in Sri Lanka. NWTMI has been doing mobile medical clinics in Sri Lanka since January in which volunteer medical professional teams go out to temporary housing camps that were hastily constructed for the survivors. These camps were built as temporary housing, but have been more permanent in nature since many of these people have nowhere else to go. The economic impact on the survivors has been almost as devastating as the tsunami, because of the loss of housing and sources of income. The people in these camps have been most appreciative of the mobile clinics. NWMTI has also been involved in developing the paediatric ward at Kalmunai Hospital. This hospital gained international recognition when Baby 81 was found and brought here. President Clinton and Senate President Bill Frist visited this area on the east coast of Sri Lanka. NWMTI has also been involved with housing projects, counselling services for children, developing a country-wide Emergency Medical Services program, repairing an outpatient facility on the northeast coast, and other worthwhile programs. The scope of these projects requires the presence in Sri Lanka of an experienced team of people who can carry on with project. Wellassa needs urgent attention with respect to its healthcare and educational needs. The island faced a serious setback after the tsunami. Adversity also brought in sympathetic foreign donors with sizable funding. Those organisations from foreign lands who have shown empathy, more than sympathy, are stranded with inadequate national interest to make good use of the opportunity to improve the healthcare and educational facilities. It is here, in this scenario, that NWMTI, has volunteered to lend directions for the effective and efficient use of funds made available through international concern. NWMTI has taken on the challenge to improve, at the least, the healthcare sector of this need with reinforced empathy. It is the mission and vision of NWMTI to reconstruct and rehabilitate Wellassa to its pristine glory. The provision of basic amenities such as a good hospital will benefit those in Wellassa and beyond. It is to this end that NWMTI has pledged its financial and medical support for the construction of the new hospital. |
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