COVID-19 Appeal

On the 11th May 2021, the Medical Aid to Sri Lanka Coronavirus appeal was started. Around this time, Sri Lanka was in the midst of another wave of the pandemic and was preparing to grapple with an even bigger one in the months to come. At the time, new cases had escalated to 2568 per day (1) - a figure that was rising quickly

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As the situation worsened, the urgent need for equipment increased. The appeal’s goal was to raise money quickly to meet this need. On the ground in Sri Lanka, health care providers told us of where this equipment was needed most urgently. More medical beds were needed to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of patients in Intensive Care Units. Pulse oximeters were needed to help doctors monitor their patients’ oxygen levels more accurately and BiPAP machines to help push air into patients’ lungs when they couldn’t breathe.

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With the incredibly generous help from friends of Medical Aid to Sri Lanka, we are proud to say that donations helped us raise a total of £24,193 in only 5 weeks - a figure well beyond our original target of £10,000. This helped us donate equipment to a range of hospitals throughout our nation (as depicted in Figure 1) and made a difference to many hospitals during some of the worst times of the crisis. The vast range of equipment donated has allowed us to support provision of healthcare in a number of settings, from Intensive Care Units to lower dependency wards and also laboratories. A full list of equipment supplied is shown in Table 1.

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We would like to thank all of our donors for their continued support across many years now. At the time of writing, although vaccinations and lockdowns have helped to curtail the uprise in COVID infections, there are still hospitals that lack basic medical equipment in other departments too. For example, Medical Aid to Sri Lanka continues to provide dialysis equipment for hospitals tackling chronic kidney disease. Therefore, your continuing support to the charity is highly appreciated.

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To donate, please navigate to the “Donate Now” icon below. Thank you for your support.

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References:

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(1) Dong E, Du H, Gardner L. An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time. The Lancet infectious diseases. 2020 May 1;20(5):533-4.