The Chinese Government has donated eight mobile laboratory buses valued at Rs. 600 million for early detection of Kidney patients. The donation was officially handed over to Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella by the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong, at the Colombo National Hospital yesterday.
These fully equipped mobile laboratories of international standard are provided to Regional Health Services Directorates in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Vavuniya, Ampara, Kurunegala, Trincomalee, Matale and Badulla districts.The facilities of these mobile vehicles are similar to the laboratory facilities of a basic hospital in Sri Lanka and it is operated by electricity.
However, there are generator facilities in it so that tests can be carried out in the absence of electricity as well as in areas without electricity.About 500 people can be tested daily through this, and kidney patients can be identified at the district level and local level. Dr. Asanga V. Ranasinghe, Director of the Kidney Disease Prevention and Testing Unit, says that the mobile laboratories can also be used for laboratory work in emergency disaster situations such as Covid.
These mobile laboratories can employ a trained driver and two medical laboratory technicians. So far, about 65,000 kidney patients of unknown cause have been reported in 10 districts across the country.Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka QI Zhenhong also handed over Rs.650 million worth of drugs sent to Sri Lanka by the Chinese Government to the Minister of Health.
It was received in Sri Lanka as the 1st batch of the second phase of the Chinese subsidy programME worth Rs.5 billion. The donation includes 17 types of essential medicines including vaccines to prevent rabies.Minister Rambukwella thanked the Chinese Government and people for making such high-term donations for the health sector and that these donations are extremely important at a time when Sri Lanka has reached an unprecedented difficult time in its history.
The Minister of Health said that although this is a huge donation, there is a high value that provides many priceless services. Minister Rambukwella said that the support we receive from friendly countries around the world is more important and timely at a time when the country is facing a crisis.
“The close China- Sri Lanka ties have stood the test of time and has gone from strength to strength,” the Minister said.The Chinese Ambassador said that the health sector of Sri Lanka has developed very satisfactorily in the last few years and even in the face of global epidemics and other crisis situations, Sri Lanka’s health sector has been able to successfully face many challenges.
He said that the dedication, endurance and effort of Sri Lankan citizens will be the key to overcoming all these challenges including the economic crisis.
Health Ministry Secretary Janaka Chandragupta, Additional Secretary (Development) Chandraratne Pallegama, Dr. Lakshmi Somatunga, Director of Kidney Disease Prevention and Research Unit Dr. Asanga V. Ranasinghe, Director (Technical Committee, COVID-19 Epidemic Management and Medical Aid Coordination) Dr. Anwar Hamdani were present on this occasion.
