Maternity Home for Vavuniya

THREE parties, representing the Japanese government, Sri Lankan health authorities and the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) jointly held an inauguration ceremony for a new Maternity Home in Poovarasankulam in Vavuniya at 10.00 a.m. yesterday.

First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka Yuji Miyahara Resident, Representative of Sri Lanka Office & Maldives Office of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Takumi Ueshima, Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services (DPDHS) Office in Vavuniya Dr. Bavani Pasupathirajah and Project Director of AMDA Ms. Eiko Sogawa attended the ceremony.

The maternity home was constructed under the JICA/AMDA project "Rehabilitation of Basic Health Service System in Vavuniya District", which intends to support local initiatives to rehabilitate war-torn health facilities and a referral system from the village level to the district level.

The project, funded by JICA and implemented by AMDA, aims to improve maternal and child health through an appropriate referral system, and to widen opportunities for quality health services through capacity-building of health personnel, especially public health midwives (PHMs) and community health promoters (CHP).

The newly constructed Maternity Home is expected to partially reduce the number of deliveries and antenatal care beneficiaries in the General Hospital, which has been constantly overcrowded and had difficulties in providing proper maternal services.

The project has also provided the maternity home with medical tools and equipment such as doppler monitor, suction aspirator, and intubation devices with oxygen cylinders.