Yet another phase of the Navy’s Community Service Project which is operated under the directives of the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, came to its successful end yesterday (31st Dec.) with the opening of two more Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants for the community use in the village of ‘Track 5’ in Rajanganaya and at the District Hospital, Mathugama.
At the invitation of the Commander of the Navy, the Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne attended the opening ceremony of the RO plant at the District Hospital, Mathugama. The facility will hereafter fulfill the much anticipated safe drinking water requirement of the patients, doctors and other staff members of the hospital. Naval personnel willingly contribute Rs. 75 from their monthly salary to the Social Responsibility Fund which is being used to cover the cost of these installations.
Addressing the gathering, Minister expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Sri Lanka Navy for conducting this noble effort throughout the last year for the wellbeing of poor people. Further, he mentioned that Navy’s Research and Development Unit has been a fine example to the other institutions of the country as it is performing an exceptional job utilizing their knowledge and expertise in view of eradicating the renal disease form Sri Lanka. The occasion was also attended by Venerable Maha Sangha, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs, Palitha Thewarapperuma, Member of Provincial Council, Jagath Pinnagoda Withana, the mother of Commander of the Navy, Mrs. Dottie Wijegunaratne, dignitaries, senior officers, doctors and hospital staff.
Meanwhile the RO system installed in Thalawa was built by the Research and Development Unit utilizing their technological know-how. The financial provision needed for this installation was made by the Presidential Task Force on Prevention of Kidney Diseases. This facility is capable of providing safe drinking water for over 500 families in the area, free of charge. The Research and Development Unit of the Navy has been extremely influential in terms of undertaking these kinds of projects to provide innocent people with safe drinking water, in the areas where a high prevalence of the renal disease is recorded. They have successfully installed 82 RO facilities in different parts of the county to date, for the benefit of over 37,000 families and 28,000 school children.