Tellippalai Trail Cancer Hospital ready for opening
Saturday, 18 January 2014 00:00
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
It has been two years since Trail – A Journey by the Living. For Life. – a walk from Dondra to Point Pedro – ended in July 2011. The dream was to raise US$ 2 million to build a cancer hospital in the north of Sri Lanka.
The success of Trail has made that dream a reality today and the hospital is now complete. The fully-equipped state-of-the-art Tellippalai Trail Cancer Hospital will be ceremoniously declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa amidst a distinguished gathering tomorrow, 19 January, exemplifying a dream that Nathan Sivagananathan and Sarinda Unamboowe shared and a nation’s hope, a naiton’s unity and a testament of courage and a collective fight against cancer.
The most recent donation was from Dr. Dinesh Sivaratnam, who contributed Rs. 45 million in memory of his parents Ratna and Meropi in helping patients with cancer by making the single largest donation towards the completion of the Tellippalai Trail Cancer Hospital. This donation is in line with the philosophy which they all lived in making a positive difference in people’s lives.
An entire ward of 30 beds and accommodation for medical and nursing staff of 15,000 square feet, part of the larger Tellippalai Trail Cancer Hospital complex, will be named the ‘Ratna and Meropi Sivaratnam Ward’.
Other donations in the recent past include a grant of Rs. 12.6 million to donate state-of-the-art medical equipment to the paediatric unit at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital from Rotary Colombo East with the support of two matching grants from the Rotary Foundation and partnered by its international Rotary partners Rotary District 6920 Georgia, USA and Rotay District 3230 Chennai India, which assisted in obtaining the equipment.
The founder of Trail and Colours of Courage acknowledge and express their sincere thanks to all those who contributed during the Trail as well as over the last two years. Corporates, individuals and friends of Sri Lanka have contributed generously towards the cause. Corporate rivalries united for a common cause. DHL and Fedex, Mobitel and Dialog, MAS and Brandix, HSBC and many others.
Lankem donated paint for the entire building, generators from United Tractor, tiles from Royal Ceramics, X-ray machines and other equipment. Several donations of equipment required for the day-to-day functioning of the hospital have also been received from individuals and companies.
Trail’s message inspired 30,000 Sri Lankans to join together and achieve a goal which as individuals would have been unachievable. A nation’s collective fight against cancer.
Trail, which was co-founded by Nathan and Sarinda, is a project in collaboration with the Colours of Courage Trust, a non-profit organisation founded in 2008, dedicated to uplifting treatment facilities at the National Cancer Institute, Maharagama.
To date the Colours of Courage Trust has carried out several successful fund raising events, the proceeds of which have been utilised to build the Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Units and the National Cancer Institute.
Visit websites www.trailsl.com and www.coloursofcourage.com for more information.
