**UPDATE** 31/05 ASSISTANCE FOR THE PUBLIC HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN SRI LANKA DURING THE COVID CRISIS
AUSLMAT has provided emergency medical assistance to Sri Lanka since the 2004 Tsunami, and our voluntary specialist medical teams have visited SL over 16 times since, providing teaching, training and medical assistance to rural hospitals and communities. AUSLMAT has played a pivotal role in funding the new Accident & Emergency Department at the Karapitiya Hospital and establishing the Coronary Care unit there with funds obtained from the Victorian Government and other donors. (Please visit our website: https://auslmat.org for details of our previous activities)
We have continued to offer our support to the local healthcare system in the recent years by providing resources to the Rajarata University medical library and a large refrigeration facility to Padukka Divisional Hospital. Last week we bought four Phillips G30 monitors for Anuradhapura Teaching hospital and the newly established Methsirisewana COVID referral center from our existing funds.
Photo: Handing over of the Phillips cardiac monitors to Prof. Sisira Siribaddana, Rajarata University.
We have received a number of urgent requests for assistance from hospital staff all over Sri Lanka in the past few weeks as essential medical supplies and equipment are mostly out of stock at local dealers. Therefore with the support of the community living in Melbourne, we are keen to raise funds to purchase much needed respiratory support equipment for emergency and critical care departments and newly established COVID treatment centers all across Sri Lanka. So far with your support we have been able to secure four Fisher & Paykel AIRVO-2 High Flow Oxygen Delivery Systems and 5 Oxygen concentrators and this week we are hoping to purchase as many items as our funds would facilitate, such as hospital-grade biPAP machines, ventilators, HDU / ICU monitors, ICU beds and IV infusion sets. The equipment will be sent to Sri Lanka on a returning Air Lanka flight, which will be coordinated via the Consulate General of SL in Melbourne and distributed to designated COVID treatment facilities across Sri Lanka via the Ministry of Health. Our organization is registered as a not-for-profit charity in Australia, and therefore donations are tax- deductible and 100% of the funds go towards the purchase of medical equipment, with no administrative costs.
There are a number of ways you could contribute to our project:
- Individuals wishing to make personal donations can donate using the “Donate Now” icon on our website: https://auslmat.org, and they will receive a receipt automatically which can be used for taxation purposes.
- Organizations wishing to make group donations for a particular item can contact me directly (contact details below), and I am happy to provide quotes for a particular item/s. Payments can be made directly to the dealer, or through our organization.
- If organizations wish to transfer the money to our account to purchase particular items from a quote, please email me the following details:
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- Group/Individual names of donors who wish to be included in the thank you letter
- Names and email addresses of individuals needing individual tax receipts (with the amount donated)
- Total amount transferred by the group and
- If you would like it to be sent to a particular COVID centre in Sri Lanka
Dr. Erosha Premaratne , on behalf of the AUSLMAT team
Email AUSLMAT team on admin@auslmat.org.
My tel: 0437321105
