The HDU donated by the Company will be used as a Surgical High Dependency Unit that provides intensive post-surgery care for recuperating patients before they are transferred to regular wards.
The unit consists of four ICU beds, bedside lockers and over-bed tables, four monitors of which two include capnography for monitoring of the concentration or partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the respiratory gases; a central monitor, four syringe pumps, four infusion pumps, two patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps, a patient warmer, a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) pump, two suction apparatuses and two IV stands.
Constructed and equipped by Ceylinco Life at a cost of Rs 11.5 million, the 500 square foot unit was donated by the Company for the welfare of the people of Kandy and its suburbs as one of several initiatives of 2019 to celebrate 15 consecutive years of market leadership.
“State hospitals provide an immeasurable service to the masses, but are constantly under pressure due to the unrelenting demand for facilities,” Ceylinco Life Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Mr Thushara Ranasinghe observed.
“As a Company that is intrinsically involved in the lives of millions of Sri Lankans, Ceylinco Life considers it a duty to support these institutions with essential infrastructure and equipment.”
The handing over and formal opening of the HDU at the Kandy Teaching Hospital took place on 9th July, and was attended by Ceylinco Life Chairman Mr R. Renganathan, members of Ceylinco Life’s Board of Directors and distinguished representatives of the local community.
Past donations of this nature by Ceylinco Life include a sophisticated High Dependency & Research Unit exclusively for the treatment of children afflicted by Dengue to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) in 2012 in partnership with a group of well-wishers; an HDU to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in 2013; a Dengue High Dependency Unit in 2014 to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital; and an HDU to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila in 2018.
These HDUs are also subsequently maintained by Ceylinco Life as part of the Company’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN for 2030; particularly goal number three pertaining to good health and wellbeing.
Ceylinco Life has also made several donations of essential equipment to other hospitals, including the Trincomalee General Hospital.
Additionally, the Company conducts a series of free health camps under its community programme ‘Waidya Hamuwa’ which has benefitted over 142,000 people in the past 16 years.
Held in towns and villages across the country, these camps provide free medical examinations by a team of travelling doctors and medical technicians, and offer necessary diagnostic tests such as random blood sugar, ECG and blood pressure. Attendees also receive optical checkups for free.
In the area of education, Ceylinco Life is committed to supporting the development of educational infrastructure for underprivileged schools in rural areas.
This consists principally of building classroom blocks for schools and providing water supply facilities to those in need.
The company has donated classrooms to 78 schools under this programme to date.
Adjudged Sri Lanka’s most valuable life insurance brand by Brand Finance in 2019 and named the Best Life Insurer in 2018 for the fifth consecutive year by World Finance, Ceylinco Life has been declared the most popular life insurance company in the country for 13 consecutive years by SLIM-Nielsen.
The market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry for 15 of the 31 years it has been in operation, the Company has close to a million lives covered by active policies and is acknowledged as a benchmark in the local insurance industry for innovation, product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.
Photo caption - The Chairman and the Directors of Ceylinco Life with doctors and nursing staff of the Kandy Teaching Hospital at the handing over of the High Dependency Unit (below) donated by the company.