Refurbishment of Ward 23 – Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit

Driven by the desire of leading the way to enrich the lives of communities Nethralokayana Sathkara, Vision Care’s CSR initiative has always played its CSR role within the spectrum of focused areas of humanity, Children, Sight & Hearing and Disaster Relief. Thereby we were offered the privilege to assist yet another heartbeat of Sri Lanka which is the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH). Dr Swarna Wijethunga, the consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist who was instrumental in creating LRH’s first multidisciplinary inpatient unit, ward 23, had the ambition to upgrade it into an autism centre. The prime objective of that concept was to modernize the ward’s infrastructure to a level that facilitates the required medication for autism whilst continuing the other services of the hospital including an inpatient facility, a day hospital, and the Consultation and Liaison unit.

We, the Nethralokana Sathkara, were honoured to contribute to the renovation of the ward 23-Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at Lady Ridgway Hospital with the assistance of our design partner, Design Forum while heartening our humanitarian effort of beautifying the lives of our children. The precise holders of this accomplishment are none other than our beloved Vision Care Group employees, as the company allocates every 25 rupees it earns from each pair of spectacles, pair of spectacle lenses, and pair of sunglasses they sell to this fund.

Accordingly, the interior of the ward, flooring and the exterior garden were all revamped and refurbished to accommodate their requirements as a part of this project. The ceremonial inauguration of Ward 23 took place on August 13th, 2022, marking yet another milestone in Nethralokana Sathkara, with the participation of Mr Dasantha R. Fonseka – Chairman, Vision Care Group and Dr H. S. J. Sepanapathi, Deputy Director, Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH). Dr Swarna Wijethunga, Head of Ward-23, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr Dulangi Dahanayake, Consultant Child and Adolescent psychiatrist of LRH, Mr. Aakaash Senanayake of the Design Forum, and the management team of Vision Care along with Nethralokana Sathkara CSR team members too joined this event.