China has donated eight state-of-the-art Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) screening vehicles worth Rs. 660 million.
These mobile labs will be deployed in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Ampara, Kurunegala, Matale and Badulla districts.
Their handover by Chinese ambassador Qi Zhenhong to health minister Keheliya Rambukwella took place yesterday (26).
Each CKD screening vehicle is fully equipped with professional devices including refrigerators, biochemistry analyzer, electrolyte analyzer, microscope, hematology analyzer, urine analyzer, water purification system, ultrasound diagnostic scanning system and centrifuge etc.
This donation is part of a China-Sri Lanka joint effort to change the CKDs status quo in Sri Lanka.
It follows the China-Sri Lanka Friendship and National Nephrology Hospital in Polonnaruwa and the Joint Research and the Demonstration Centre for Water Technology in Kandy.
Around 500 persons can be tested by these mobile labs each day.
Sri Lanka has reported around 65,000 KDU patients from 10 districts.
Ambassador Zhenhong also handed over anti-rabies vaccines and 16 other medicines worth Rs. 650 million on the occasion.
Minister Rambukwella welcomed the donations and said China was the closest among the friendly nations of Sri Lanka.
The Chinese ambassador said the island’s health sector has improved satisfactorily despite the global pandemic and other issues.