Sunday Times 2
Lankan physician back in SL to follow-up on ‘project joy’ at LRH
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Dr Sandy Para Waran
NEW YORK – When Dr Sandy Para Waran, a Sri Lankan Paediatric Neurologist domiciled in the United States, was back in Colombo in late 2014, he was pursuing a humanitarian mission: to raise awareness and funds for the treatment of children with neurological disorders such as epilepsy.
And, at the same time, he was trying help the medical profession, providing doctors with the necessary medical equipment and expertise to combat the disease.
The project resulted in the setting up of a Children’s Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH), Sri Lanka’s national children’s hospital, and described as one of the largest in the world.
After three years, Dr. Waran will be back in Sri Lanka next week to follow-up on his mercy mission appropriately titled “Project Joy” and described as a Rotary International Project, co-sponsored by the Rotary Club of Morristown, New Jersey, USA and the Rotary Club of Colombo West.
Just before he left for Sri Lanka, Dr. Waran told the Sunday Times that three years of sustained work had helped bring the project “to this level of fruition.”
“Obviously, much more needs to be done and it is my hope we can build on this, one step at a time,” he said.
At the global level, he has also been looking for individuals and philanthropists who would like to engage in helping developing countries like Sri Lanka “to bring medicine and technology to help those who don’t have funds for private care.
Alongside raising funds for the purchase and installation of neuro-diagnostic and epilepsy monitoring machines, Dr. Waran’s vision also included a symposium featuring renowned pediatric neurologists from the United States and Thailand to be conducted at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) and medical professionals from the US traveling to Sri Lanka for short term training assignments.
The project also includes Sri Lankan doctors visiting the United States to receive advanced training in various American hospitals; and, establishing a program to assist developmentally disabled children in Sri Lanka through the training of Sri Lankan medical professionals by American medical personnel, according to a summary of Project Joy released here.
The first two-day Symposium, titled “the Role of Video EEG in the Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Epilepsy”, was held in March 2016, and a follow-up Symposium is likely later this year.
The Rotary Club of Morristown, NJ under the leadership of Rotarian Merle Johnson, its members and Dr. Waran, based in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.A., were responsible for launching the project
A musical fund-raising gala held in Morristown, on November 15, 2015 generated contributions from sponsors, benefactors, patrons and supporters raising a total of approximately $100,000. Rotary International matched 50% of this amount contributing $50,000.
A piano recital by Harsha Abeyaratne held at the Lionel Wendt Theater in Colombo on July 5, 2015 (Organized by JC Entertainments ) raised additional funds in the range Sri Lankan Rupees Rs.400, 000 (approx. $3000). Harsha’s personal commitment to this project emanates from the fact that his grandfather Dr. A. O. Abeyaratne was not only a leading pediatrician at Lady Ridgeway Hospital but was also its director in charge of the hospital in the early 1950’s.
In addition to these fundraising events, the Rotary of Colombo West contributed Rs. 100,000. Depending on fresh funds, future plans include the purchase of EEG monitors for hospitals in Kandy, Karapitiya, Jaffna, and Batticaloa.