British Deputy High Commissioner Lisa Whanstall called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena together with a delegation from the Fleming Fund of UK Department of Health and Social Care to discuss commencement of the second phase of the UK aid programme to Sri Lanka, at Temple Trees in Colombo on Wednesday (23).
She said the healthcare grants programme, which was halted for the last few years due to the Covid pandemic, will be resumed in January 2024. Under this grant, assistance will be provided to generate, share and use antimicrobial resistance data to reduce drug resistance. It will support public health surveillance to help improve patient health, inform national health policies and warn of emerging threats.
The grant programme will be implemented with the assistance of the Health Ministry, World Health Organization and other agencies. Under this programme training fellowships will be provided to Health sector staff.
The Prime Minister thanked the United Kingdom for selecting Sri Lanka as a recipient of this healthcare programme, which will be immensely useful to advance the Health system in the country. He pointed out that Sri Lanka Health service is based on the British system and there will not be any difficulty in implementing such healthcare programmes.
British Council’s Country Director Orlando Edwards presented a set of publications on English language training methods of the Council to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Gunawardena urged the Deputy High Commission and the British Council to introduce English Language education to youth in rural areas.
Dr. Jessica Wallis and Dr. Neha Gulati of UK Fleming Fund, British High Commissioner Andrew Price and Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, Deepa Liyanage also participated in the discussion.
