Kandana (AsiaNews) - A mobile clinic to treat the poor and needy, provide medicines and provide free specialist visits. This is the initiative launched this Easter by the parish of Kandana, Diocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
In the past the parish of San Sebastian, in Kandana, had organized mobile clinics for the poor. The Easter initiative was made possible thanks to the participation of 10 government doctors, some from the far away districts of Kurunegala and Puttalam.
Despite torrential rain, people queued all day asking people for medications, specialist visits or free check-ups. Fr. Mahendra Gunatilake, pastor of the church of San Sebastiano, spoke to over 200 poor people who benefited from the medical care.
A woman of 73 thanked the local church and doctors because she now has a pair of glasses, which have helped to resolve her vision. "I used this chance – she tells AsiaNews – so as not to be a burden on my children, who already have their own family problems." Lawrence Perera, 77, is grateful for the medicines received, that his daughter can not buy regularly.
The initiative will not stop with Easter, but will continue in the future and will have an even wider scope. Rohan Jayasinghe, a Buddhist and the social worker in charge of the organization, forsees that, "in the future we will extend this project to the district of Gampaha”.