At a time of national emergency, in early June 2021, Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Upul Ranasinghe of the Bandarawela Hospital saw a rising wave of Covid patients in the Uva Province which the hospitals there were ill equipped to handle.

He reached out to Dr. Nalaka Mendis (Emeritus Professor, Colombo University) who immediately responded by calling on Dr. Naj Nagendran (Foundation of Goodness- USA) and gathering together a like-minded collective of humanitarians from Sri Lanka and overseas to respond to the challenge.

They included Mr. Manik Jayakumar (Q Trade Teas & Herbs), Mr. Felix Stephen ((Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Limited), Mr. S. Skandakumar (Oru Paanai Trust- SL & USA) , Mr. Kushil Gunasekera (Foundation of Goodness) and Dr. Erosha Premaratne (Australia Sri Lanka Medical Aid Team) to raise urgently needed funds.

With the number of Covid related deaths rising by the day and patients sleeping on the floor of over-crowded wards and corridors outside, the initial focus of the group was to quickly upgrade Covid facilities at the Bandarawela Hospital where the bed capacity was increased from 50 to 300, Kushil Gunasekera of FOG said.

Having acted fast to complete the first phase, the group was overjoyed to hear Dr. Roshan Piyarathna, Covid physician at Bandarawela Hospital, say “Thanks to your donations the hospital was able to treat and discharge over 1,500 positive patients”.

Encouraged by this success and supported by those who rose to the occasion of enhancing Covid handling capacity at Bandarawela, more funds were raised to extend the same help to five more Uva hospitals – Haputale, Haldumulla, Diyatalawa, Koslanda and Welimada.

A total of over Rs. 26 million was made by this group to upgrade the hospital facilities in the Uva not only made a strong impact on the treatment delivered during the pandemic under life or death comditions, but will also hold the hospitals in good stead long after the pandemic is overcome.

Doctors at the Koslanda Hospital noted that this was a significant donation in the 100-year history of the hospital which had been struggling to provide the best possible care with insufficient equipment and technology. This was made possible by private individuals and organizations assisting disadvantaged rural communities to rise to the pandemic challenge.

This project was delivered so successfully because of the support from the College of Internal Medicine lead by President Dr. Harsha Sathischandra who took on the responsibility to disburse the funds and oversee the purchase of equipment and its Treasurer, Dr. Priyamali Jayasekera’s voluntary role, in spite of the heavy demands on her time by her official duties. The fund utilization and equipment purchases were completed with absolute transparency, Gunasekera said.

Dr. Janitha Tennekoon- Provincial Director, Dr.  Leelananda Gallage- DMO Bandarawela, and Dr. Roshan Piyarathna- physician in charge of the Covid unit, facilitated the process at the Bandarawela Hospital.

Dr. U M M Pushpalatha, MD, Welimada Hospital, Dr. Ranjith Amarakone – MS, Diyatalawa Hospital, Dr. Sanjeeva Samaraweera – DMO, Haputale Hospital, Dr. Vichithra Rathnayake – DMO, Haldumulla Hospital and Dr. Niroshan Thaminidu – DMO, Koslanda Hospital were invaluable in coordinating these efforts and successfully completing this endeavour.

We record with sadness and regret the passing away of one of our amiable donors Eddie Wijesuriya, during this exercise.

When difficulties arise, at most times there is a light at the end of the tunnel and one of the positive outcomes of this disastrous pandemic was that rural hospitals got upgraded unexpectedly, enhancing their facilities, which means that such hospitals especially in remote areas will be better equipped now to serve the needs of disadvantaged communities- a setback turned into a blessing, Gunasekera noted.