Peripheral Mother-Child Unit, Thalalla

Visiting the refugee camps that were established following the tsunami, we were regularly confronted with the insufficient medical supply at the camps as well as at the hospitals. The few hospitals, which had not been damaged or completely demolished by the tsunami, did not have enough capacity for all the injured people and were in urgent need of medicine and medical supply.

"Aside from the fact that the people in the Southern District do not even have the basic necessities in life anymore, there is an urgent need of upgrading the health sector in this area, especially regarding childcare. None of the rural hospitals have a proper child and maternal ward with sufficient equipment. The pregnant mothers or parents have to travel long distances with their sick children to the next hospital."
– Sylvia Merkle, Sri Lanka www.sunils-friends.de

We met Sylvia Merkle at one of the orphanages in Sri Lanka that we were evaluating for Real Medicine. Sylvia is the chairperson of Sunil’s Friends Kinderhilfe, Sri Lanka e.V., a nonprofit organization founded 1994 in Germany. Their mission is to give under-privileged children in Sri Lanka, especially orphans and abandoned children, a better life. Sunil’s Friends have grown into an efficient and experienced child aid organization during the last ten years, helping children regardless of their origin, ethnical background or religion and without any political interest.

Sylvia underscored the importance of upgrading some of the rural hospitals in the Matara district and we decided to support it through the Real Medicine Foundation. The Ministry of Health and the local health authorities confirmed the urgent need of upgrading some of the rural hospitals in the Matara district. They have already developed a master plan for the restoration and improvement of health care institutions in this area. According to this plan, the Periphal Unit in Thalalla needs urgently to be renovated and upgraded in order to relief the Matara General hospital. The Ministry of Health and the local health authorities are ready to sign the MOU for this project. With the renovation and upgrading of the facilities, more extensive medical personnel would be provided.