Health Ministry Secretary Major General Dr. Sanjeewa Munasinghe and Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Sri Lanka Office Yamada Tetsuya signed a Bilateral agreement on Thursday (May 13) 2021, representing the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka and JICA for JICA’s emergency technical cooperation grant named the Project for Strengthening the COVID-19 Response in Sri Lanka.
This project primarily focuses on provision of equipment which are essential to cope up with COVID-19 treatment during this emergency such as Ventilators, ICU beds, Ultrasound scanners, blood gas analyzers etc. The equipment and materials are to be provided in selected four hospitals, namely the Teldeniya Base Hospital, Warakapola Base Hospital, Welikanda Base Hospital and the Pimbura Base Hospital. In addition, the project will provide equipment for establishing a PCR laboratory at the Hambantota District General Hospital to strengthen its infection diagnostic capacities in the Southern Province which is currently experiencing many challenges to expedite PCR tests.
Under the project, it is also planned to conduct training seminars to medical staff in these selected hospitals on strengthening nosocomial infection prevention, patient safety and case management to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases through Japanese Experts remotely. The total budget allocation to this project is 1.8 million USD (approximately Rs.350 million) under Japan’s Official Development Assistance.
JICA believes this project will be able to significantly contribute to the COVID-19 testing, diagnosis, and treatment in Sri Lanka and to mitigate the difficult situation the country is facing now.
Senior Health Ministry and JICA Sri Lanka Office officials, including Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health Dr. Sunil De Alwis and Senior Representative, JICA Sri Lanka Office Takashima Kiyofumi also attended the occasion, held at the Ministry of Health, Colombo strictly adhering to the health guidelines and the COVID-19 preventive measures.
