Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Wednesday, 14 December 2011 00:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lankan surgeon and activist Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura was one the World Thinkers chosen for the above festival held recently in Abu Dhabi for 325 young people from around the world. It was organised by the Higher Colleges of Technology of Abu Dhabi, and six Nobel laureates also participated in it as resource persons.
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| Dr. Godakumbura (right) speaks at the panel discussion. With him is the Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1998, Founder of Monaco Lifecheck Centre, a Neuroscientist from Germany and the Vice chancellor of the Oxford University. Riz Khan of Al Jazeera TV was the moderator |
Dr. Godakumbura was a panellist in the workshop on ‘Leadership in Healthcare’ and in the panel discussion on ‘Health and UN Millennium Development Goals’.
He also made a power point presentation on ‘Prevention of Injuries’, a subject that is not getting enough attention in some countries.
Dr. Godakumbura was chosen for this festival because of his kerosene burn prevention project of 19 years.
Everyday 700,000 families in Sri Lanka use kerosene for lighting, and more during power outages. Due to poverty and ignorance, many of them use makeshift bottle lamps that easily tip over causing severe burns. While some die, others survive with gruesome scars on the face, neck and/or elsewhere.
The Safe Bottle Lamp Foundation gives out their ‘Sudeepa’ safe lamps free to kerosene users. They are now working in partnership with the Samurdhi Authority that has agreed to distribute the lamps while the production cost has to be born by the Foundation.
Last week 12,500 lamps were distributed free to the Samurdhi Authority, to be given to the people in the Polonnaruwa District.
Lamps have also been distributed in other areas, including Eastern and Northern Provinces with support from the army. They welcome donations from well-wishers to maximise their work (www.safebottlelamp.org).
