Lions Club awards Fight Cancer Team for service rendered to Apeksha cancer hospital

By Shannon Jayawardena

The Lions Club recently awarded the Fight Cancer Team (FCT) for its tireless service rendered to the Apeksha cancer hospital in Maharagama. The team raised over Rs. 252 million to donate to the hospital a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner which was appreciated at the award ceremony held at Temple Trees.

While PET machines are very costly, they are essential for early detection of cancers and today because of FCT’s hard work in getting a machine down to the hospital, many patients won’t have to suffer due to the unavailability of good equipment and treatment. 

Not only did they fund in buying a scanner for the citizens of the country, they also constructed a separate building for the machine to be installed under the recommendations of the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Board, and brought down a nine-member team of German radiologists who studied and trained personnel with the guidelines on operating the machine.

As FCT Founder and President M.S.H. Mohamed has stated several times, “The hospital is still in need of several other pieces of equipment, as even the existing ones are rusted or not up to date. Apeksha Cancer Hospital’s CT scanner is now over 15 years old while MRI scanners, ultrasound machines, bronchoscopes, radio iodine, ambulances and genetic laboratory equipment are also very much in need.”

It is for these valuable and heartfelt services that Mohamed together with his team provided and is continuing to do so for the Apeksha cancer hospital, which the Lions Club recognised and chose as worthy winners of the ‘Lions Award’. 

FCT Founder and President M.S.H. Mohamed, FCT Vice President Rukman Weeraratne and FCT Treasurer Thariq Jamaldeen took to stage to receive the ‘Lion Award’ which was handed over by Lions Club Former President Mahendra Amarasooriya. 

“Our vision is to make Apeksha cancer hospital the best in South Asia by 2025 which is standard in order to prevent cancer from being the number one disease in Sri Lanka by 2020. Our team consists of 150 dedicated members worldwide and our fight is only a fair struggle in the name of mankind,” stressed Mohamed. 

Apart from this, the FCT is also to receive an award of appreciation from the National Blood Bank for their contribution of three campaigns, which included more than 200 participants each time. They are to be awarded on 14 June at the Nelum Pokuna.