Rs. 200 m hospital complex for Trinco

Rohan Mathes

COLOMBO: A hospital complex constructed at a cost of Rs. 200 million was commissioned at the Government Hospital in Nilaweli, Trincomalee last Tuesday, President's Media sources said.

The construction of the hospital complex which included an administration unit as well, was in line with President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Jathika Saviya and Gama Neguma programmes. It had obtained monetary assistance from several NGOs as well.

The complex had been built as part of an integrated programme of providing humanitarian assistance simultaneously with the programme to uplift the livelihoods of the community there, following the recent liberation of the Eastern region by Security Forces.

Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who participated at the commissioning ceremony invited the LTTE to the negotiating table, stating that now was the most opportune time for the LTTE to denounce all violence against the innocent Tamils, Muslims and Sinhala communities, and hold peace talks. "The Eastern Province which was stagnant and starved of development for decades, was now showing signs of a renaissance in development," he said.

Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa observed that the Eastern Province where the Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil communities lived together, was itself a role model of unity in diversity, to the world. "They could now co-exist sans fear nor suspicion," he said.

Nation Building Minister Susantha Punchinilame, Cooperatives Minister M. N. Abdul Majeed, Deputy Health Minister Suresh Vadivel and Eastern Province Governor Mohan Wijewickrema also participated.

The participants later engaged in an inspection tour of the Moraweva and Panniketiya village development 'Technical Co-operation' project, funded by JAICA.