ADVERTORIAL

Mobitel introduces Smart pre paid SIMS

Mobitel, the National Mobile service provider has initiated yet another first by Introducing SMART PRE PAID SIMS for travellers with multi Language user guides. The pocket user guides will be available in 10 languages namely, Arabic, Dhivehi, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Russian. The pocket user guides can be collected at the Mobitel Arrival Lounge counter at the BIA, selected outlets across the country and downloadable via www.mobitel.lk

In addition to the pocket user guide, travellers can also access the interactive voice response in Hindi, Dhivehi, French, German, Russian, and Japanese & Mandarin by calling 141 on their SMART Pre-Paid connection. The Interactive voice response will enable tourists to access services such as querying their account balance, recharge their accounts and activate pre-paid data plans.

The multi-language user guides from National Mobile Service provider will be a value addition for the Tourism Industry as a whole, as the country sees rapid growth.

Commenting on the launch of this novel initiative, SGM - Marketing, Sales and Distribution of Mobitel, Chandika Vitharana stated: "With the boom of tourism in Sri Lanka, it is essential for us to advocate initiatives that will assist to enhance tourism in the country. The immediate post war phase had given rise to an increase in arrivals to Sri Lanka, ratifying the fact that the tourism industry is a front-end industry. The multi-language support will facilitate conveniences for many tourists by introducing 10 commonly used languages by travellers who visit Sri Lanka."

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, the National Mobile Service Provider and the official sponsor of the National Cricket Team, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom. In January 2004, the company had launched its fully-fledged 2.5G GSM network that is EDGE/GPRS enabled and designed to operate on dual band. In December 2007, the company had launched its 3.5G HSPA network - the first Super 3.5G network in South Asia. Further, Mobitel had successfully demonstrated HSPA + MIMO technology with down link speed up to 28.8 Mbps and had carried out a successful trial of 4G/LTE technology with downlink speed exceeding 96 Mbps, for the first time in the South Asian Region. Investments committed to date in the 2.5G/3.5G/4G networks and service offering has amounted to over US$400 mn.

ComBank - Trade Finance's best Sri Lankan Trade Bank once again

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been adjudged the 'Best Sri Lankan Trade Bank' by the prestigious UK based Trade Finance magazine in yet another international acknowledgement of the Bank's status as the country's best bank. This is the second occasion that the Commercial Bank has been declared the Best Sri Lankan Trade Bank by Trade Finance.

The Bank previously received this accolade in 2009, the year that the category was introduced at the magazine's annual awards for banking excellence.

The Commercial Bank's strong network of agents and correspondents and its expertise in international trade were cited as some of the reasons for the Bank being singled out for honours at the Trade Finance Awards for Excellence.

These awards are to be presented on the basis of individual performances of the respective banks.

"This award is an important reiteration of Commercial Bank's pre-eminent position as a service provider to businesses, especially those in import and export," said Commercial Bank's International DGM Jegan Durairatnam.

"It emphasises the fact that our commitment to this customer segment has been sustained and strengthened," he said. He said that the skills and expertise developed by Commercial Bank in trade finance during its nearly 100 year long involvement in the sphere, supported by its network of branches, agents and correspondents in all key markets that its customers operate in, as well as in global financial centres had enabled the Bank to secure the award for a second time.

Published by Euromoney PLC, London, Trade Finance magazine has been reviewing the global trade market since 1983.

he magazine is a channel for the latest news and analysis covering trade services and supply chain, factoring, structured commodity finance and export as well as agency finance.

Established in 1969, Commercial Bank owns a network of 198 computer-linked branches and supermarket banking counters in Sri Lanka. The Bank also owns the single largest network of ATMs in the country, currently numbering 420 terminals.

The Bank has been adjudged 'Best Bank in Sri Lanka' for 13 consecutive years by 'Global Finance' Magazine, 'Bank of the Year' seven times by The Banker magazine, and the Best Bank in Sri Lanka twice by Finance Asia.

New technology to detect osteoporosis

Hemas Southern Hospital has obtained the latest technology to detect osteoporosis. The state-of-the-art machine is known as Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scanner.

This is the first time the DEXA technology is made available in a private hospital outside Colombo and the first time a private hospital in Sri Lanka acquired the modern fan-beam technology, a Hemas Hospitals spokesman said.

The machine is capable of scanning clinically relevant skeletal sites such as the spine, proximal femur, and forearm in detecting osteoporosis. Manufactured by Hologic Inc USA, the machine is fitted with the latest WHO FRAX algorithm software which is used widely to define intervention thresholds in postmenopausal osteoporosis, the spokesman added.

Explaining the new technology, Galle Medicine Faculty Professor Sarath Lekamwasam, said that DEXA is the gold standard technology in detecting bone density which is used to diagnose osteoporosis and determine fracture risk. He added that many patients with osteoporosis are not detected due to the restricted availability of this technology. Currently, there are only four DEXA machines in the country.

He said "The DEXA machine installed at Hemas Southern Hospital uses the state-of-the-art fan-beam technology and this is the first time such a machine is made available in the private sector of Sri Lanka.

He emphasized that it is a very safe procedure and no special preparation is required before the test.

Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by reduced bone material content associated with the deterioration of bone strength, finally leading to a fracture or bending of spine. In the new technology the patient only needs to lie down on the scan table for 8-10 minutes to complete the scan. During the procedure, the patient can wear normal clothes but metallic objects like pins and clips have to be removed.

By using DEXA technology, it is possible to decide the type of care the patient requires in order to prevent the progression of the disease. This could vary from prevention to treatment.

Hemas Hospitals recently enjoyed the honour of receiving an international accreditation from the prestigious Australian Council on Healthcare Standard International (ACHSI) which is Australia's leading healthcare accreditation provider delivering accreditation and quality improvement programmes throughout the world.