Charity Celebrates 23 Years of Medical Aid to Sri Lanka

The UK association of Medical Aid to Sri Lanka (MASL) is celebrating its 23rd anniversary through a fund-raising Dinner/Dance on the 7th of April. During the last 23 years, MASL has contributed around £400,000 to Sri Lankan hospitals and organisations to fund a range of equipment and activities to improve the quality of life of Sri Lankans. Last year alone, the charity’s contributions to projects exceeded £40,000. MASL would like to sincerely thank the generous donors and the dedicated volunteers who made all this possible. One hundred per cent of all donations has gone directly to fund projects, with travel and administration costs borne by MASL committee members. MASL is a UK-registered charity with number 108051.

MASL now wants to expand its activities to serve many more people with urgent medical needs in Sri Lanka. This can only be achieved through a significant increase in membership. Therefore, MASL cordially invites people to join the charity and to take an active role through fund-raising and by contributing to on- going projects as well as identifying new areas that need funding.

MASL New Year Celebrations are on Saturday 7th April at the Allum Hall in Elstree- Borehamwood. This is the main fund-raising event of the charity. Therefore, please don’t fail to attend this and spend an evening, enjoying traditional food and live music with friends and family, while contributing to the funding of medical facilities in Sri Lanka. Those who cannot attend can still help through donations and by selling raffle tickets. Please visit the charity website www.medicalaidtosrilanka.org.uk for further details. Anyone wishing to attend the dinner/dance or sell raffle tickets please contact Nalini on 07838233627 or on 07823436070. Please note that tickets for the dinner/dance, which cost £35 for adults, have to be reserved prior to the event by phoning Nalini, although payment can be made at the gate.

Medical equipment donated to Sri Lankan hospitals include:

a) Kidney Haemodialysis machines
b) Ultra-sound machines
c) Forced Triad Blood Vessel Sealing Equipment
d) Mammography machine
e) Kidney ultrasound machine
f) Eye Surgery equipment
g) Infant Incubators
h) Anaesthetic machines
i) Cardiac monitors, Pulse Oximeters, Defibrillators, ECG Machines
j) Endoscopy equipment and Urology Instruments
k) Ventilators, air-conditioning equipment and water pumps
l) Sound level meters, Clinical Audiometers & Acoustic emission machine
m) Microtome machine

Hospital areas covered include Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Mirigama, Marawila, Kurunegala, Mahiyangana, Moneragala, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa, Diyatalawa, Batticoloa and Padaviya. If some areas of Sri Lanka have not been covered as well as others, that has been because of the lack of proposals from those areas. The charity welcomes proposals for improving hospitals in all areas of Sri Lanka.

In addition to donating equipment to hospitals, MASL has been involved in other programmes to help individuals and organisations in Sri Lanka. These include:

a) Equipment and wash-room facilities for two orphanages in Colombo and Kandy. In addition to this, there is an on-going programme to provide regular hygiene facilities for another orphanage.
b) Treatment for 2500 cataract patients to regain eyesight, in areas like Moneragala, Mahiyangana, Dambulla, Kuliyapitiya, Galgamuwa, Mirigama and Aunradhapura. The charity has provided the lenses and the after-care medicine, while surgeons associated with the charity have performed the operations. This project will continue this year too.
c) Prosthetic limbs to 200 amputees and a Limb fitting machine. The charity has worked with the Colombo Friend-in-Need Society and the Thiruketheeswaram Sivan Arul Trust to provide these limbs to people in districts of Vavuniya and Mannar.
d) Eighteen houses and other supplies to Tsunami victims
e) Donations to flood relief for various parts of the country, multiple times.
f) Provision of 600 sets of consumables, including catheters, to kidney dialysis patients. This is an on-going project to help people impacted by the Chronic Kidney Disease.

Projects identified for the coming year include:

1) Kidney Dialysis Consumables: MASL as well as other organisations have funded kidney dialysis units to treat the unfortunate victims of Chronic Kidney Disease. These machines have turned out to be very useful, and as a result, has led to an acute shortage of consumables, such as catheters. MASL has made an initial commitment to provide another 300 sets of consumables, at a unit cost of around £25.
2) Pulse Oximeters for the Premature Baby Unit of the Castle Street Maternity hospital.
3) Hygiene facilities to Vajira Lama Nivasa orphanage. This has been going on for several years and will hopefully continue well into the future.
4) Continuing the cataract treatment project through the provision of lenses and relevant medicine. This has been one of the most effective projects of the charity; the immense transformation one could make to a person’s life for as little as £25 has been remarkable. The charity is extremely grateful to the local doctors who have provided their services free. This project must continue into the future.

This is not all. MASL committee members are in the process of actively consulting doctors from several hospitals in Sri Lanka. Some projects are currently being finalized, and once confirmed, these will appear in the charity website www.medicalaidtosrilanka.org.uk. Donations to the charity can be made securely through JustGiving pages of this website.