China pledges to deliver five billion rupees worth of medicines to Sri Lanka soon

China will deliver five billion rupees worth of medicines to Sri Lanka in the near future, Qi Zhenhong Ambassador of China to Sri Lanka, said yesterday at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, after making a donation.He said that China is one of the biggest providers of medical aid to Sri Lanka in recent years. Since China and Sri Lanka established diplomatic relations, 65 years ago, the two countries and peoples have always been understanding and supporting each other, he said. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the domestic economic crisis, have brought severe difficulties to Sri Lanka, and its public health sector is especially faced with unprecedented challenges, Zhenhong said.

“China has been the biggest donor and supplier of PPEs, test kits and vaccines to Sri Lanka, throughout the pandemic, which largely helped the island to win the battle against COVID-19. To tackle the CKDu (chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology) in Sri Lanka, China has handed over the National Nephrology Hospital, in Polonnaruwa, the Joint Research and Demonstration Centre for Water Technology in the University of Peradeniya, and eight kidney disease mobile labs to the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka and brought into operation in the last year,” he said.

China has also donated medicines worth 1.2 billion rupees, under its 500 million RMB emergency humanitarian assistance. In the coming months, more medical supplies, with a total value of five billion rupees, will be handed over to Sri Lanka and delivered to hospitals and patients across the island, he said.The Ambassador added that the biggest China-aid project so far, a brand-new National Hospital OPD Centre, in Colombo, which can accommodate 6,000 patients daily, will be soon opened to the Sri Lankan people.In conclusion, the Ambassador said: “I reiterate that at this moment of difficulty, we will stand by your side, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, and jointly overcome the current challenges to contribute more to the well-being of our two peoples.”