Brightness Action: Sino-Lanka friendship restores sight to 120 patients

Speaking at the ceremony, Sri Lanka's Health Minister Arambepola expressed her gratitude to the governor of Yunnan and said she hoped that more such projects would be initiated in Sri Lanka in the future to benefit all levels of the public. Responding, Wang said he hoped that the two countries would enhance cooperation with each other.

Talking to the medical staff of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Wang praised their efforts and said that they have restored sight to 120 people, who in return have become ambassadors of China-Sri Lanka cooperation.

The head of the eye unit at Lanka Hospitals, Nishani Fernando, said that the current situation in Sri Lanka means that while private hospitals are still capable of conducting cataract surgery, many state hospitals are unable to do so due to a lack of lenses.

"Many of these patients are from villages who have been waiting for a long time to do the surgeries," Fernando said. "The condition had worsened and some patients were even at the risk of losing their sight altogether due to the delay."

Devika Kasthuriarachchi, the head of the surgical department at Lanka Hospitals, said that the hospital had previously worked with the ASLCSCC.

One of the best lenses used in Sri Lanka was used in the recent surgeries, she said, and low-income patients who would otherwise be unable to afford the surgery were included in the program.

Kasthuriarachchi also said that the organization of the program – from registration of doctors and providing facilities for patients to the surgeries and arranging post-surgery follow-up – was done cohesively.

President of the ASLCSCC President Indrananda Abeysekara said that patients included 30 patients from the districts of Batticaloa, Ampara, and Trincomalee in Eastern Province – which has now become a sister province of Yunnan province. Another 20 patients came from the families of the armed forces, 50 patients who did not have the financial means to undergo surgery were selected for the program, and the ASLCSCC sourced the other 20 patients, he said.

Abeysekera added that former Eastern Province governor Anuradha Yahampath had actively contacted patients in the Eastern Province and provided them with transportation facilities, while the ASLCSCC had provided them with food and drink.

Noting that Yunnan province had paid around $40,000 for the surgeries alone, the ASLCSCC president said that they were able to do more surgeries than previously anticipated as the Lanka Hospital offered to perform them at a concessionary rate.

Abeysekera recalled that in 2014, the ASLCSCC organized a program for 1,000 cataract surgeries performed by medical specialists from Sichuan province.