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New wing enhances services for new mothers and babies
Stamford, Conn. – Sept. 4, 2012 – AmeriCares officials and government leaders celebrated the recent expansion of the Trincomalee District General Hospital during a ceremony today on the hospital’s grounds. AmeriCares, a U.S.-based disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization with an office in Colombo, recently built an 83,000-square-foot addition onto the hospital that adds 250 beds, operating rooms, a laboratory complex and a neonatal intensive care unit. The $2.8 million project expands the hospital’s capacity to treat patients in an area ravaged by the 2004 tsunami and the long-running civil conflict that ended in 2009.
“Before the expansion, the hospital was overcrowded, and there were often patients sharing beds in the maternity ward,” said Rachel Granger, AmeriCares vice president of post-emergency programs, who attended the ceremony today. “With this additional space, patients will be more comfortable and the hospital will have the room to expand medical services. We’re excited to work with the medical providers and health officials to offer a higher quality of care.”
The Trincomalee project is one of three major hospital additions AmeriCares has undertaken in the country since it began relief operations in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. In June, AmeriCares broke ground on another hospital project – a major addition to the Mullaitivu District General Hospital in northeastern Sri Lanka. When it is completed, the $1 million project will add a 53-bed surgical ward with two operating rooms, recovery area, intensive care unit, physician housing and a central sterilizing facility for all of the hospital’s equipment and supplies. In 2009, AmeriCares completed a $3.2 million addition onto the District Base Hospital at Elpitiya, doubling the number of beds and adding the first private delivery rooms in the region.
The hospital projects are part of AmeriCares long-term tsunami recovery program made possible by an unprecedented outpouring of support from donors. To date, AmeriCares has invested $45 million to rebuild schools, hospitals, water systems and livelihoods for survivors in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. In all, the organization has built or renovated more than 40 health care facilities across Southeast Asia.
AmeriCares has provided medical relief and humanitarian assistance to millions affected by natural and man-made disasters for 30 years. Its emergency response experts have responded to the world’s worst disasters including last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina in the United States. AmeriCares relief work often lasts years after an emergency as it helps restore health services for survivors.
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