Fight Cancer Initiative’s Team Leader Mohammed awarded at Temple Trees

The long awaited PET CT scanner being handed over to Maharagama Apeksha Hospital by Dr. M S H Mohamed on April 01, 2018

 M.S.H. Mohammed, Team Leader of the Fight Cancer Initiative, was felicitated at the 13th Annual Conference of Lions Clubs International District 306 C2, at the Temple Trees recently. The event was graced by eminent personalities and dignitaries who represented various Lions Clubs across the world.   

Mohammed received the award in appreciation of his efforts by former Governor of District 306 C2 Lion Mahendra Amarasuriya. Mohammed spearheaded a national movement to secure a Positron-emission tomography (PET) scanner for the National Cancer Institute; also known as Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama. The PET scanner, which Maharagama Apeksha hospital lacked for many years, has immense value and helps in the early detection of cancers. 

Mohammed ( Third from Right) receives the award in appreciation of his efforts by former Governor of District 306 C2 Lion Mahendra Amarasuriya (Second from left)

 
After years of tireless campaigning the Fight Cancer teams raised over Rs. 250 million to purchase the scanner for the hospital. The long awaited PET scanner arrived in the island in January this year. As Apeksha Cancer Hospital is the only centralised institution for the treatment of cancer patients in Sri Lanka, patients visit the hospital in their hundreds each day. The hospital is still in need of several other pieces of equipment, as even the existing ones are rusted or not up to date. The CT scanner at Apeksha Cancer Hospital is now over 15 years old . The hospital is also very much in need of MRI scanners, ultrasound machines, bronchoscopes and genetic laboratory equipment.   

Mohammed says that the Fight Cancer team aims to make Apeksha Hospital the best such facility for the treatment of cancer in South Asia in years to come through their generous contributions and campaigns.   

The PET CT scanner

Fight Cancer Team Vice President Rukman Weeraratne, Treasurer Thariq Jamaldeen and Lions Club President Lion Asela Karunawardene were present when Mohammed received the award.