Christian Medical College of Vellore donates Rs 20 Mn worth medical supplies to Jaffna hospital

For the second time in less than six months, Christian Medical College (CMC) of Vellore in India donated Rs 20 million worth of medicines and consumables to Jaffna Teaching Hospital considering the ongoing economic crisis in the country that caused acute shortages for medical supplies in the region.

On this occasion they also donated medicines  for the Northern Provincial Health Ministry. A total of twenty five boxes of items ranging from a variety of badly needed medicines and surgical consumables have been sent. The commercial value of the consignment would be approximately Rs 20 million.

Healthcare institutions continue to face difficulties in providing care for the community due to continued shortages of medicines and other supplies. Jaffna Teaching Hospital and other hospitals in the north have been fortunate to have received  assistance from numerous sources during these difficult times.

The Ministry of Health, the staff of the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai, Sri Lankan Airlines and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilitated the transfer of this donation to Colombo from Chennai without any additional cost .

Dr.Vikram Mathews, the Director of CMC and his team headed by Dr.Thomas Ram came forward once again with such generosity to help the people of northern Sri Lanka, the hospital officials said.

CMC has historical links with Jaffna going back two hundred years from when Dr.John Scudder, the grandfather of Dr.Ida Scudder who founded CMC, first arrived in Jaffna. The motto of CMC is 'Not to be ministered unto but to minister' and this is yet another demonstration of them fulfilling that ideal. 

The donated supplies were symbolically handed over by Dr.Thayalan Ambalavanar, an old student of CMC to the Deputy .Director of Teaching Hospital Dr.Jamunanantha, along with other staff, and those for the Provincial Ministry to Ms.Krishnaveny, the Chief Pharmacist in the institution.  It is hoped that CMC will continue to assist the region in several ways as they have done for many years now.