|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Monday, 26 July 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Pivotal role for Moolai Co-op Hospital by a correspondent A Bharatanatyam dance recital in support of the Moolai Cooperative Hospital, with the aim of turning it into a model health care centre, with mobile facilities for children affected by the North-East war, will be held on July 28th from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. The event is co-sponsored by UNICEF and the Board of the Moolai Cooperative Hospital. The program will be conducted under the patronage of Justices C. V. Wigneswaran and Shiranee Tillakawardene and Ameer Ismail (former Supreme Court judge). Co-operative hospital The Moolai Co-operative Hospital was established in 1936, under the Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Cooperative Act, by a group of committed medical doctors and community leaders, in the Chankanai Division of Jaffna District. The buildings and facilities of this innovative cost-effective health care centre were destroyed during the war in the North East. The community, however, reconstructed the buildings with some assistance from DFID (UK). Donor organizations like GTZ and the Royal Netherlands Embassy and philanthropic institutions have recently provided small grants and some equipment to run an Out-Patients General Consulting, Maternity, Eye and Diabetic Clinic, with visiting physicians. The challenge now is to fully utilize the existing capacity and potential of this 105 bed hospital facility located in six acres of prime land and focus its major activities on the multifaceted health problems of over 300,000 children affected by the war, while at the same time helping to multiply a sustainable culturally rooted and cost effective co-operative community health care model, with mobile facilities. The process will start in the Jaffna District and then be replicated in the other Districts on the basis of lessons learned. The initial activities will include dealing with problems of malnutrition, mental health care, prevention of children's diseases etc. These areas will be identified on the basis of a professional situation analysis and pre-feasibility study. A preliminary Felt Needs Survey revealed the following problems faced by women and children in several parts of the North-East. Women and children account for the most number of civilian casualties in the war and make up to 80 per cent of the refugees and internally displaced. The preliminary survey revealed that apart from the problems of the War-torn Jaffna peninsula, the North-East Province as a whole faced the following children's problems. It recognized that children and young people have been particularly vulnerable during the period of war. More than 300,000 children are internally displaced persons and 50,000 live in welfare centers. Death of many parents has rendered a number of children fatherless and motherless. Many have been wounded and disabled. Almost 50% of the children are malnourished and have health problems while there is widespread war-related psychological distress and trauma. Attention needs to be paid to water, sanitation and key elements of protection such as psychological care, mine-risk, education of children. In this condition of deprivation of access to educational opportunities, breaking down of family structures, trauma, malnutrition, lack of recreational facilities, security - no normal childhood development was possible for these children. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
