25 June 2016 12:00 am Views - 1947
From left: Etisalat Lanka CCO Yasser Aboulamayem, SOMS Treasurer and BoD Malaka Talwatte and SOMS Programme Director Chamara Ekanayake
Etisalat Lanka, will support the launching of the ‘Denethakata Senehasin’ project at Attanagalla and Gampaha Education Divisions to provide spectacles and essential eye care services for deserving individuals.
This endeavour will become the next step towards strengthening and sustaining their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The brand is broadening on their previous CSR initiative which was to distribute free spectacles, which took place annually during local religious festivals. The project will be carried out with Etisalat’s continued partnership with So Others May See Inc. (SOMS), a non-government organisation, whose main focus is sight.
The project will be launched from the Attanagalla and Gampaha Education divisions. 78,612 schoolchildren from 98 schools along with their families will be assisted. Approximately 1,525 students will benefit from receiving custom made spectacles, while 1400 students will be referred to regional ye hospitals.
School teachers from the Gampaha Education Zone have been trained to identify children with defective vision. Vision screening was done for school children to specifically identify those suffering from Refractive errors.
During the initiation of the project, Etisalat signed an official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SOMS, partnered with ‘Vision2020’ a programme lead by the Ministry of Health followed by a hand over of donations which were donated by Etisalat Lanka. Speaking on the project, Etisalat Lanka Chief Commercial Officer Yasser Aboulamayem stated that Etisalat intends to continue and expand this CSR initiative by eventually focusing to extend the programme to all parts of the country.
“There are many people in our community, especially the younger generation who are deprived of clear vision due to difficulties. We are proud to partner with SOMS once again to conduct this programme to eliminate avoidable vision defects and blindness.”
SOMS President MP Ruwan Wijewardene states that this year they hope to achieve their target of providing free eye care services to over 12,000 individuals, including both adults and children.
“We believe that everyone deserves to continue living a productive and meaningful life and we are happy to partner with
Etisalat Lanka once again who have supported our cause for many years and is partnering with us again to conduct this project,” he underlined.