London tea company to build cancer hospital here

Another cancer hospital will be built soon, affiliated to the existing Maharagama Cancer Institute to cater to the increasing number of cancer patients. The project will be undertaken jointly by the Health Ministry and Ahamad Tea London.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in this connection between the Health Ministry and Ahamad Tea London on Tuesday at the Health Ministry in the presence of Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena. Ahamad Tea London was represented by its director Mahmoud Ali Assarian, project manager Sara Afshar and administrative manager Sonali Perera. A Health Ministry release said the new seven storeyed hospital is to be named Razavi Medical Complex on the request of Ahamad Tea London.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 2,100 million out of which Rs 1,500 million will be borne by Ahamad Tea London and the balance Rs 600 million will be borne by the Sri Lankan government. Ahamad Tea London is a reputed firm supplying Sri Lankan tea to 70 countries for the past 25 years. The company had decided to gift the new hospital as a mark of gratitude to the people of Sri Lanka.

The release said the state of the art hospital will have 373 surgical beds, five operating theatres, 12 surgical intensive care beds, a daytime chemotherapy unit, outdoor and indoor pharmacies, 19 paying rooms, a child surgical unit, a laundry, a garbage disposal unit and a canteen on each floor.