Tsunami damaged Muruthamunai hospital to be reconstructed

Mohammed NAALIR

MARUTHAMUNAI: The agreement to resume construction on the Maruthamunai hospital which was damaged during the tsunami catastrophe was signed at a ceremony at the Housing and Common Amenities Ministry recently. The Maruthamunai hospital is to come up at Mattuwattai, Maruthamunai.

The agreement was signed by Malaysia’s High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Nazeera Huzzain and Ampara District Secretary Sunil Kannangara in the presence of Housing and Common Amenities Minister Ferial Ashraff. The representative of Malacca Province, Chief Minister Ramzi Mohammed was also a signitory.

The aim of signing this agreement was to expedite the construction work of the hospital.

The hospital is to be constructed at a cost of Rs.110 million.

The preliminary construction work on the hospital was launched by Minister Ferial Ashraff.

The preliminary work of the hospital was delayed due to legal problems in getting an alternate land plot instead of the land plot which was purchased by the Malaka Province Chief Minister for the Maruthamunai hospital during his visit to Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

There was a legal problem in obtaining an alternative plot of land in place of the existing one.

Minster Ashraff expressed her gratitude to Malaysian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka and lawyer Abul Kalam for their dedicated service.

The hospital will be constructed with modern facilities including a ward with 36 beds and a doctors quarters.

Secretary to the Housing and Common Amenities Ministry W.B.Ganegala, lawyer Abul Kalam, Merlin Institution Residential representative Michael Fraulein, Ampara District Secretary Sunil Kannangara and representative of Malaka Province in Malaysia Ramzi Mohammed too attended the signing.