Business Health

Panadol pledges financial support for cataract operations

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the makers of Panadol, announced the initiation of a project of donating funds for cataract operations for the less fortunate.

Panadol, which has been in Sri Lanka for 40 years, is the country’s most popular paracetamol pain reliever and is the trusted choice for many people the world over.

Managing Director of GSK, Jayant Singh, says that “The reason we chose to facilitate cataract operations is

 because cataract is the most common cause for blindness, and we believe that with a little help from us some people out there who would otherwise go blind, will have a chance to restore their vision”.

As a part of this gesture of not only looking to fulfil, but exceed its level of social responsibility, the company has also organized a series of eye camps in selected locations around the country.

The ‘Sahan Eliya’ initiative organized in collaboration with the Rotract Club, enabled people to get their eyes checked as well as obtain medication for various vision related ailments.

Singh said “This project is part of GSK’s efforts to reach out to the general public and try to sort the little problems they may have in relation to vision, problems they may otherwise ignore due to financial restrictions”

The cataract operations have facilitated the continuity of day to day activities for many of the people who were on the verge of blindness.

In recorded testimonials many sufferers who have had their vision restored bore evidence to this fact, noting how they could now continue to support their families, see the number on a bus, and travel on the road and not be a burden to others.

Singh went on to adds, “GSK consumer healthcare in Sri-Lanka is poised for growth. We have committed people and good support from other stakeholders. Most importantly, we have strong brands like Panadol which have earned the trust of millions of people in Sri-Lanka.”

It is this growth and support that helps us to contribute in such a big way to the Sahan Eliya initiative.”

John Keells vision project to continue into 2008

John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation (the CSR arm of the John Keells Group) announced the extension of their successful ‘John Keells Vision Project’ into the years 2007/08. The project, which will look to complete an aggregate of 2,000 cataract operations, will also feature eye camps in remote locations around the country.

The John Keells Vision Project is primarily an island-wide cataract operation project aligned with the World Health Organisation’s “Vision 2020” Project and launched for the benefit of deserving, disadvantaged or needy persons across Sri Lanka.

Originally launched as `John Keells Vision 1000’ in 2004/05, the initial target was to restore the eyesight of 1,000 needy cataract patients throughout Sri Lanka.

With 1,590 cataract operations completed to date, the Vision Project will look to expand in the coming year as it operates under the revised name, `John Keells Vision 2000’, reflecting the number of operations it aims to complete by the end of 2008.

Speaking about the John Keells Vision 2000 Project, Carmeline Jayasuriya, Manager, John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation said, “Cataract is one of the primary causes of blindness in the country, but 95 per cent of patients can be cured through surgery. Most cataract patients have the potential to be productive, but risk reduced employability because financial constraints force many to give into the progressive blindness which the cataract brings about.”

“By sponsoring their operations, we want to empower cataract patients in disadvantaged circumstances to become productive citizens again through access to timely healthcare and thereby, benefit not only the individual patient, but his/her family as well as society at large”, she added.

The John Keells Vision Project is carried out in line with the World Health Organisation’s “Vision 2020” Project. The WHO project aims to eliminate avoidable blindness worldwide by the year 2020, in order to give everyone in the world, and particularly those who are needlessly blind, the Right to Sight.

The John Keells Vision Project has been executed primarily via Base Hospitals in various provinces. In 2005/06, a sub-project was introduced to provide needy children, who are screened at the John Keells eye camps, with spectacles.

‘Like cancer, survival rate can be inherited’

Children stricken at some point in their lives with the same cancer as their parents are also likely to share a similar rate of survival, according to a study released Friday.

The study, based on a database including three million families and a million cancer patients in Sweden, found an increased risk of an early death in second-generation patients with breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer.

The same may hold for other cancers as well, the researchers said, but only these four were present in sufficient numbers to be statistically significant.

It has long been known that family history is a risk factor for many forms of cancer, but this is the first evidence extending that filial bond to the child’s chances of living with or overcoming the disease.

While environmental factors could not be ruled out entirely, the findings strongly suggest that genetic factors are at work.

Among the offspring of people who had died within 10 years of being diagnosed, the increased risk compared to cohorts whose parents has survived longer was 75 percent for breast cancer, 107 percent for prostate cancer, 44 percent for colorectal cancer, and 39 percent for lung cancer.

The findings, published in the British journal The Lancet, suggest that “cancer specific-survival of a patient can be predicted from previous parental survival from cancer at the same site,” the authors conclude.

The team of researchers, led by Linda Lindstrom of the Karolinksa Institute in Stockholm, also say that the parent-child link could be a useful guide for treatment as well.

“Information on poor survival in a family might be vital in accurately predicting tumour progression in the newly diagnosed individual,” they write.

In a comment, also published in The Lancet, Ora Paltiel of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre in Jerusalem said the findings could inform life-and-death decisions, such as whether to opt for active treatment or observation in a new diagnosis of prostate cancer.

AFP