SriLankan Cares to set up child psychiatric unit at LRH

Making a commitment to the betterment of children at the start of the new year, SriLankan Airlines’ CSR arm ‘SriLankan Cares’, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Health and the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) to upgrade and convert ward five of the LRH, to a child psychiatric facility.

This will be the first dedicated, multi-disciplinary child psychiatric unit in Sri Lanka.

The MOU signing ceremony took place at the Health Ministry premises and the signatories were the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Kapila Chandrasena; the Health Ministry Secretary, Dr. Y.D. Nihal Jayathilaka; and LRH’s Director Dr. Rathnasiri A. Hewage.

The project which is estimated to cost around Rs. 8 million, will be funded by the SriLankan Cares trust which already has completed several projects on its concept of ‘the empowerment of children’.

The work pertaining to design, renovation and refurbishment of an old building will begin soon and is expected to be completed in four to six months.  SriLankan Cares will hand over a completely renovated ward, complete with necessary furniture to the management of the LRH and continue to monitor its usage and progress.

“This is our initial project in the area of child health care which we hope to expand to a wider national level, as the airline grows and progresses’ said the airline’s CEO Kapila Chandrasena.

Good mental health is important for any human being and studies reveal that around 50% of mental disorders and deficiencies are developed at childhood.

It is also proven that these can be cured, if identified at an early age, followed by treatment. Due to low priority, mental health care has been a neglected aspect in Sri Lanka and this has been a compelling reason for SriLankan Cares to take up this initiative and to shed light on the issue.

SriLankan Cares participates in community development projects, on the theme ‘empowerment of children’ as its main focus.

Among its CSR projects, it has carried out major projects in three rural schools in the country, providing buildings and infrastructure such as classrooms, libraries, and computer labs; and continues to monitor progress through this dedicated in-house unit.