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Durdans' free health care to the poor Durdans Hospital
has been expanding its free medical clinics to the underprivileged
through a special programme called "Durdans Community Outreach
Programme" with new areas being added on this year. Having started
in February 2002 at Rajagiriya, the service is the first such community
health care programme to be launched by a private sector hospital
in Sri Lanka. Since the initial
outreach programme, 20 such clinics have been held so far, most
of them in rural areas where expert medical attention is only a
dream for many. Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Deniyaya, Ratnapura, Galle,
Matara and Trincomalee were some of the areas to benefit while the
most recent clinic was held at Puttalam in late April. Established in 1945, Durdans is one of the oldest private sector hospitals in the country now renowned for areas such as cardiology, obstetrics, gynaecology, pediatrics, diagnostic services, etc, according to a hospital statement. These regional clinics are primarily focused on identifying patients with heart problems and risk factors associated with it, such as, hole in the heart, congenital heart diseases, valve defects, etc. Each clinic is well equipped to test for diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol. Random blood tests, ECG, blood pressure and other similar clinical assessments are also done. Five to eight doctors, expert technical staff and an adequate number of qualified nurses are assigned to each clinic. Should a test require sophisticated equipment specimens are sent to Durdans, Colombo on the same day, and the test results sent by courier to the respective individuals free of charge. "The benefits through such a programme are many," said a spokesman for the hospital. "Not only do the patients get expert medical attention, they get it free of charge and, because it is in the very community they live in, they are spared the long journey to Colombo and the time and money that goes with it." He said that waiting lists for certain cardiology operations in most government hospitals could run up to four years. For villagers who live in humble surroundings, modern hospitals in Colombo and other urban centres with their high sophistication, is a 'no-go' place. "That is why we organize our clinics at places where they feel more comfortable like schools, temples, churches, etc. to maximize the participation of the community. To make every clinic a success adequate publicity is given using public address systems, posters, leaflets, etc," he said. He said the hospital services, however, do not end at the clinic. To those who cannot afford very costly bills, when heart surgery is needed, Durdans Hospital has drawn up a scheme to carry out surgical operations at a reasonable rate. New flights between Vienna, Colombo The Austrian
Airlines group said last week it had commenced its year round scheduled
services to Colombo from Vienna from May 7 onwards. The airline is the latest carrier to enter Sri Lankan skies on a scheduled basis. The group comprises Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air, Tyrolean and Rheomtaflug. Initially Austrian Airlines will operate a Boeing 467, departing from Colombo on Wednesday morning and arriving in Vienna and arriving in time for the same day connections to over 72 cities in Europe. Browns Tours are the local agents of the airline. Varuna's IT centres to boost job opportunities By Quintus
Perera The programme envisages 19,500 direct IT training for youth, opening of 6,000 IT centres island wide with 1,500 coordinating centres; supply of 36,000 computers at the rate of six per centre, 3,000 computers for the coordinating centres, supervision and monitoring, on-line examination system, opening district wise cyber cafes, by 2010 supplying 4,700,000 computers island wide and training 9 million persons in IT through IT centres maintained and supervised by an international campus. Piyawardena
said that this was a gigantic and difficult task and stressed that
advanced telecommunication facilities would be required to implement
this project. The present impoverished telecommunications and other
infrastructure facilities in rural Sri Lanka must have to be improved
and streamlined, he said urging the Minister of Science and Technology
to provide the required infrastructure for the smooth running of
the project. He said that with the prohibitive rates, implementation
of the project would not be possible, requesting that a lease-line
system or radio system in Sri Lanka be provided. He said that
his project would run parallel to the government's "Regain
Sri Lanka" and noted that unutilized and underutilized resources
available in the country would be exploited for his project as youth
appear to be frustrated with the current education structure which
did not assist them to find employment. Piyawardena
pointed out that as responsible citizens they had a duty towards
these frustrated youth, specially the rural youth, to avoid the
1971 and 1987 youth insurrections. Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Ravi Karunanayake said that the private sector was taking the lead in the economy and noted that in 1948, 98 percent were employed in the public sector while today 85 percent work in the private sector showing that the "government has no business to be in business". He said that Varuna has taken a courageous decision and the government would extend all assistance. He said that the envisaged telephone unit charge of Rs. 4.55 would be reduced to Rs. 2.50. |
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