Coffee Morning at Amaya Hills for Kandy Cancer Hospital
A section of the audience at the coffee morning
Amaya Hills Kandy was a buzz of activity on Sunday, August 13 hosting a coffee morning for the “Kandyan ladies”. Proceeds from the event were in aid of the Kandy Cancer Hospital which is under construction.
The coffee morning was hosted by Amaya Hills in collaboration with the Ladies Association of Kandy. The event was sponsored by Nestle, while the print media partner was The Sunday Times and Yes FM the electronic sponsor.
Channel Manager Hotels, Restaurants and Catering (HoReCa) of Nestle Professional Nilantha Athurupana said Nestle was happy to partner this event as cancer is seen to spread its tentacles in all spheres of society.
General Manager of Amaya Hills Kandy Samantha Rathnayake in his welcome speech thanked all the partners and participants of the event.
“Amaya Hills is looking forward to having many more events of this nature in the future. This is only a single step towards reaching a common goal of assisting in the construction of a bigger and better cancer hospital in Kandy,” he said.
Nilantha Athurupana’s demonstrations covered three mouth- watering,do -it- yourself desserts with a dessert mix introduced by Nestle. The Docello dessert mix range is being used by hotels, restaurants and catering services though not available in the retail market at the moment. However, those present at the coffee morning were fortunate enough to purchase them at the event. The three desserts namely; Chocolate Mousse, Crème Brulee and Penna Cotta take only about 10- 15 minutes cooking time. The desserts were served to the guests.
A personal grooming presentation was conducted by Thusitha Athugala, a well- known figure in the beauty industry. Mr. Athugala stressed on using the right kind of make up for the appropriate event and spoke of the benefits of good health habits like drinking a glass of water on an empty stomach early morning as you wake up.
Resident Manager, Amaya Hills Rushdy Raheem spoke on table manners and etiquette.
Amaya Hills Pastry Chef Asantha demonstrated the making of two delectable cakes which were gifted to the winners of the entrance ticket raffle draw.
Director, General Hospital Kandy Dr. Saman Rathnayake briefed the audience that non– communicable disease is on the rise in Sri Lanka, the most common being cancer, in which. No 1 is breast cancer, followed by cervical cancer, third ovarian cancer, followed by thyroid cancer and bowel cancer.
Reiterating that prevention is certainly better than cure Dr. Rathnayake elaborated that getting proper medical advice was key to eliminating any cancer at the very outset.
A beauty demo by Thusitha Athugala
“You have to nip it in the bud. There’s no known cause for ovarian cancer but all cancers are curable through early detection and proper medical intervention,” he noted.
Dr. Rathnayake said that there were “Well Woman” clinics established at MOH (Medical Officer of Health) levels to serve those under privileged who cannot afford private hospitals.
“There are trained doctors and nurses who will examine the patient. One could get a Pap Smear done and the results will be examined by qualified pathologists. In the Kandy area, the most common cancers are breast, cervical, ovarian and bowel. Kandy General Hospital at present has a normal breast cancer clinic. The services of a modern mammogram is also available to patients. There’s no necessity go overseas for treatment. All treatment pertaining to cancers could be completed here,” said Dr. Rathnayake.
Mr. Samantha Rathnayake handed over a donation of Rs. 100,000 to Dr. Saman Rathnayake.
The Sunday Times learns that the proposed cancer hospital in the precincts of the Kandy General Hospital will take another two years to complete. If more donations of this nature are made towards this worthy cause the cancer hospital may become a reality sooner.