GSK donates High-End Ultrasound Scanner to Lady Ridgeway Hospital
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has donated a high-end, ultra-portable
ultrasound scanner to the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital in Colombo,
to support the treatment of children admitted with dengue fever and
dengue haemorrhagic fever.
GSK Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Stuart Chapman, GSK
Consumer Healthcare Managing Director T. S. Dayanand,
presenting the portable high - end ultrasound scanner to Dr.
Rathnasiri Hewage, Director of the Lady Ridgeway Children's
Hospital in the presence of Dr. Joe Fernando, former
Secretary to the Ministry of Health |
The unit, costing Rs 5 million, was presented to Dr Rathnasiri Hewage,
Director of the hospital by T. S. Dayanand, Managing Director,
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and Stuart Chapman, Managing
Director - GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. It is only the second such
machine in use in Sri Lanka.
This high-end ultrasound scanner would be a life-saving instrument
that could be used to detect leakage of fluid at the critical stage of
dengue. It can be taken to the bedside of critically ill patients, the
company said.
"The Lady Ridgeway hospital is at the forefront in treating children
suffering from dengue," GSK Consumer Healthcare Managing Director T. S.
Dayanand said.
GSK Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Stuart Chapman said the company
welcomed the opportunity to help in efforts to treat dengue, which has
reached hyper-endemic status in Sri Lanka.
"As an articulation of our corporate mission of improving the quality
of human life by helping people to do more, feel better and live longer,
GSK is committed to assisting the medical fraternity and the community
in numerous ways," he said.
Speaking at the presentation of the machine to the Lady Ridgeway
Children's Hospital, Dr. Rathnasiri Hewage said the ultrasound scanner
donated would save many lives and help the hospital get closer to its
goal of reducing its dengue-related mortality rate from the present .3
per cent to .1 per cent. Because it is ultra-sensitive, the donated
ultrasound scanner is capable of detecting even a small quantity of
fluid inside the body cavity of a patient, Dr. Hewage said.
One of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and
healthcare companies, GSK and its predecessors have been doing business
in Sri Lanka since the late 1930s. |