Sri Lanka

At the request of Mr. Imthiyas, Director of the One Heart Educational Center and the Minhath Montessori Pre-school, Real Medicine Foundation with the generous support of Mrs. Upamali Munaweera, conducted a one day medical clinic for the predominantly Muslim members of the Yonakapura Community, Dickwella.RMF staff provided on site medical evaluations for Minhath Pre-School children, their parents & the elderly and less privileged members of the community.
A target population of 122 was selected:

• 21 Children
• 42 Parents
• 04 Teachers
• 25 elderly Females
• 30 elderly Males

And 148 patients were evaluated and treated.

This special clinic was planned and organized by Real Medicine Foundation, and Mrs. Upamali Munaweera, a native of Sri Lanka, sponsored it. Mrs. Mali has lived in Los Angeles for the past 30 years.

She visited all of RMF’s Sri Lankan projects, and, seeing the clinic at Yayawatta, she initiated funding for a one day clinic for Yonakapura, a Muslim community in the south. We also wish to thank Ms. Deborah Ellens for her generous support.

At the scheduled time, our special guest, Mrs. Mali, and RMF’s medical consultant, Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa had arrived, accompanied by our team members, Nishantha Sandakelum, Mrs. Dimuthu, Mrs. Samanthie and myself.

The Director of the Minhath Pre-School, Mr. Imthiyas, had prepared a traditional welcome of Muslim community customs for everyone. Our guests, Mrs. Mali and Dr. Chamal were presented with a beautiful red rose and all the staff was sprinkled with scented Holy water.

The Pre-School had arranged for waiting accommodations for the patients and for a private section for the examination of patients. The consulting room was marked with IN and OUT posters; this way it was very easy to organize the crowd who attended the clinic.

RMF Country Director, Mr. Michael Lear, approved the Off-Site Clinic and the staff handled everything according to RMF procedure. With our sincere Thanks, and we always remember our Executive Director, Dr. Martina Fuchs who had paved the path to establish such humanitarian programmes to the needy with RMF Motto “Friends Helping Friends Helping Friends”.

Thanks & Our Gratitude to BOTH of YOU, MARTINA and MICHAEL.

The teachers of the Pre-School had done all the documentation of the patients who had come to the clinic. A total of 148 patients were seen. The oldest patient was 80 years old.

The number of elderly patients was on the increase due to a number of difficulties that the community had to face:

• Lack of transportation
• Financial problems
• Available time of family members
• Cultural reasons, i.e. it is especially difficult for women in a Muslim community to ask for care.

The patients were very happy as they were provided with all the care and medicines they needed. The Muslim community and the Divisional Officer of the area thanked Real Medicine Foundation for their great service for the less privileged. All the patients who had attended the clinic were given cream cracker biscuits and king coconuts. This was an amazing moment for everyone, as they had never experienced such activity in their lives.