CICT pledges $ 25,000 for sight-saving surgeries in Sri Lanka

 The CICT team led by the company’s General Manager – Administration and Corporate Social Responsibility Grant Yang (3rd from right) at the presentation of the cheque to Nawaloka Hospitals Chairman and CEO Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa and the hospital’s Director/General Manager Vidya Jyothi Emeritus Professor Lal G. Chandrasena (3rd and 2nd from left respectively)

• The donation under the C-Blue project, will fund cataract and LASIK surgeries and other procedures

Another group of Sri Lankans with correctable eye diseases and disorders will soon begin surgery to restore clearer vision, thanks to the latest phase of a community initiative of Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) in partnership with the Nawaloka Hospital.

CICT recently donated $ 25,000 (Rs. 9.25 million at current exchange rates) it has pledged for the project. The donation is part of CICT’s ‘C-Blue Restore Sight Project’ that the company launched in 2015. 

Nawaloka Hospital will procure, supply and utilise all the resources needed to implement the project, including providing professional medical staff, lenses, accessories, and other equipment to perform surgeries, under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two organisations. The patients for these free surgeries will be selected from the waiting lists of several government hospitals in Sri Lanka, on the recommendations of the signatory organisations. 

Commenting on CICT’s continuing support to this eye care program, the company’s General Manager – Administration and Corporate Social Responsibility Grant Yang said: “The C-Blue Restore Sight Project was launched to enable access to eye care, especially for those living in impoverished conditions. The recent economic crisis in Sri Lanka has pushed many more beyond the poverty line, and often, non-emergency healthcare is one of the casualties on the list of priorities. With this latest phase of the project, CICT is reaffirming its  commitment to the continuity of this initiative, despite the challenges faced by the business.”

Cataract surgeries, refractive surgeries that reshape the cornea (LASIK surgery), and Corneal Collagen Crosslinking (CXL) including squint correction and keratoplasty will be performed under this phase of the CICT ‘C-Blue Restore Sight Project.’ Additionally, selected patients requiring the Avastin injection for visual defects too will be accommodated. Plans to conduct eye camps in certain needy areas identified by CICT are also in the pipeline.  

At a ceremony held recently at the hospital, Yang presented a symbolic cheque to Nawaloka Hospitals Chairman and CEO Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa and the hospital’s Director/General Manager Vidya Jyothi Emeritus Professor Lal G. Chandrasena. Thereafter, the CICT team visited some of the patients scheduled for surgeries. 

Since the launch of the C-Blue Restore Sight Project in 2015, CICT  has funded more than 450 cataract surgeries to restore sight, in collaboration with the National Eye Hospital. 

A generous contributor to community welfare, CICT is also the principal sponsor of Sri Lanka’s Wheelchair Tennis Programme and has donated over Rs. 54 million for the cause over the past seven years. Additionally, CICT and the China Merchants Foundation (CMF) which is the social responsibility arm of CICT’s parent company, China Merchants Group (CMG) have constructed and donated a well-equipped, two-storey Community Centre Building to the Pannila Village in Horana with an investment of $ 102,000 under their ‘Hope Village’ project, and are also supporting another ‘Hope Village’ in Lunugamvehera in the Hambantota District.