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- John Keells Foundation and Ceylon Cold Stores partner with the Ministry of Health to address vision impairment in school children
John Keells Foundation and Ceylon Cold Stores partner with the Ministry of Health to address vision impairment in school children
28 Sep, 2015
Ahead of World Sight day being commemorated on 8th October, John Keells Foundation (JKF) and Ceylon Cold Stores (CCS) announced a new partnership with the Department of Health Services for the School Screening Programme and provision of free eye glasses to school children of the Colombo District. The collaboration was launched on 28th September 2015 at the Family Health Bureau.
The event was graced by Dr. P.G. Maheepala, Director General of Health Services and National Focal Point – Vision 2020 Programme
“Under the Vision 2020 programme, we have received immense help from John Keells, especially in terms of Cataract surgeries whereby we have provided sight to many who previously could not see. This is certainly a good deed as we have given them a new life. Now providing spectacles to our children gives me great pride as they are our future.”
Carmeline Jayasuriya, Head of Operations, John Keells Foundation delivered the address on behalf of John Keells
“This initiative is extremely important to us, having been involved in providing cataract surgeries for elderly persons since 2004. It is our hope that we can prevent or mitigate such instances by addressing vision impairment during its early stages and empower our children to realize their full potential as leaders of tomorrow.
We are also delighted that John Keells Group company and popular manufacturer of beverages and ice creams, Ceylon Cold Stores, has come forward to fully sponsor and partner this initiative.”
Officials representing the Health Department, Vision 2020 Secretariat, John Keells Group and beneficiary school children with their parents were present at the event.
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The ceremony marked the first step towards the conduct of vision screening and provision of approx 3,600 spectacles per year to deserving and disadvantaged school children in the Colombo district. The first batch of 100 spectacles was handed over to needy school children who had been identified previously with low vision or refractive errors.
The event was graced by Jit Gunaratne, President – Consumer Foods and Beverages
Dilani Alagaratnam, Head of HR, Legal and Secretarial, Sustainability and CSR
Anil Bandara, Project Champion, John Keells Vision Project …
Wasantha Malwattege, Sector Coordinator for CSR
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Several doctors attached to the Health Department were also in attendance including: L-R: Dr Mangala Gamage, former Focal Point CBL and PEC, Dr. Chintha Karunaratne, Chief Medical Officer, School Health Office, Dr. Pradeeepa Siriwardena, Present Focal Point for Colombo Urban Eye Care Project and Dr. Asela Abeydeera of the Vision 2020 Secretariat
John Keells volunteers Samadhi Tennakoon (Project Coordinator, CCS) and Vidarshan Dabera of CCS were also in attendance and distributed snacks to the children after the event.
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: John Keells for Green Environment