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Standard Chartered, the main sponsor this year for Heartbeat 150,has flown an eleven member team of cardiac surgeons to Sri Lanka from Guys Hospital in United Kingdom to perform heart surgery on children.

The team led by Mr. Conal Austin. arrived in Sri Lanka on September 23 and will be here till Wednesday (1) is currently performing heart operations on Sri Lankan children, who, without access to this expertise of care, would die, a bank spokesman said.

Standard Chartered Bank's Group Executive Director of the South Asian and Middle East Region Christopher Keljik visited Sri Lanka for the second time last week. Keljik has come down from London to Sri Lanka to see at first hand the Bank's Heartbeat 150 mission. He is responsible for the Group's businesses in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, UK, Europe and the Americas.

A strong personal supporter of many community activities, Keljik visited the hospital to meet the local doctors and coordinators of the project as part of his visit.

Christopher Keljik joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1976 and has held a number of senior positions in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. He joined the Board of Standard Chartered PLC on the May 7, 1999 and in this position. He was appointed Group Executive Director of the region in 2002.

Keljik's visit also coincides with the Bank's global Community Week. In Sri Lanka, the Bank is supporting nine projects going on during this week, falling within the categories of youth, health, education, environment and trust/care. These include the Bank's international projects - "Seeing is Believing" where the bank is committed to restoring eye sight to 28,000 people and Living with HIV which is the bank's award-winning peer education program to help educate staff and the public on the facts surrounding HIV.

Supported directly by the Board Directors, this Heartbeat 150 effort fits very closely with the Bank's belief in providing real and measurable benefits to the communities in which it operates. The sponsorship for this project has been provided entirely through the funds raised by the Bank's 1,100 staff in London.

There will be a similar mission from Guy's Hospital to Kenya later this year, also sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.

The team of doctors has come out to Sri Lanka on a charity mission and at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. They are using their annual and study leave during this period. Most if not all the operations will be carried out at the General Hospital and have been coordinated through Dr Hector Weerasinghe. However the mission will also be visiting Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital and has received assistance from Asha Central Hospital as well.

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