Sri Lanka

The Story

The Welimada Base Hospital, which is in a town called Welimada in the Badulla district, serves over 200,000 people. The hospital is located within an underserved community, and it is underfunded by the Government. The most common diseases among patients in the surgical unit of this hospital include abdominal-related diseases such as hernia, appendicitis, laparoscopy, general pain, fractures, and road accident injuries.
I had pleasure to talk to Dr. Gayathiri Nagalingam, a general surgeon at the Welimada Base Hospital. She mentioned that the hospital is ill-equipped, and the lack of basic medical equipment makes their job harder. She said that the number of staff is low, and the number of patients is high. Dr. Gayathiri sees about 50 patients a day with shifts that are over 24 hours.
Dr. Gayathiri also said that the surgical unit of this hospital struggles with low supplies and inability to have materials and equipment imported to the hospital due to the Government import policies and funding. Equipment requested were a pediatric pulse oximeter, PG touch cardiac monitor, adult saturation probes, sanitizer bottles, portable ventilators, elastoplaster, leucoplast, saline gauze, suture materials, laparoscopic LT 300, 400 liga titanium clips, wheelchairs, fine dissecting forceps, John towels clips, fine mosquito forceps, No.11 blade blood pressure handle, small tissue scissors, suction drains, and sponge holders.
Recognizing the hospital’s urgent needs, a generous initial donation of approximately $550 was made to the hospital. This donation comprised one Contech 12.1" Multipara monitor CMS 8000 and two INFI Fingertip Pulse Oximeters.
This initiative was made possible through the collaborative efforts of Dr. Gayathiri and Siddarth Kasi.

About Me:- I am Harinie Jeyisanker, a senior at Cypress Creek High School. I am ethnically from Sri Lanka. I am proud to be part of CHF. CHF leads me to interact with healthcare professionals and help people in need.
Indian classical dance, piano and swimming are my hobbies.