21 September 2022 12:56 am Views - 1312
A message from charities Friends of Manipay Hospital UK, Ride4Ceylon and Institute of Medical Sciences, on the occasion of Dr Samuel Green’s 200th Birth anniversary
Our three charities wish to commemorate the founding of Green Hospital in Manipay in the nineteenth century by
Friends of Manipay Hospital (FOMH) charity was founded in 2005 to revive the Green Memorial Hospital from its war-damaged, dilapidated state. The American Ceylon Medical Mission (ACM) in Jaffna began in 1819 and Green Hospital, Manipay was started by Dr Samuel Green in 1847 along with a medical school (American Mission Medical School), the first medical school in Ceylon. Colombo Medical School was established 20 years later in 1870 and gradually the Manipay Medical School was wound down and closed. However, the Green Memorial Hospital continued to serve the local community until it became unsustainable during the 30 year civil war in Sri Lanka.
FOMH trustees together with leading medical clinicians in Jaffna established the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) in 2014 to rescue and revive Green Memorial Hospital which was at the time almost at the point of closure.
The Institute of Medical Sciences became the local delivery partner for FOMH charity and from small beginnings restored clinical services at Green Hospital and runs niche services such as free Family Medicine and Paediatrics as well as in-patient neuro-rehabilitation. IMS provides training for school leavers to become healthcare professionals and at the beginning helped orphanages by taking in children who had to leave orphanages on reaching 18 years of age.
Ride4Ceylon is an entity that was initially started as a brand for fundraising by FOMH in March 2018. It has now organised itself as an independent charity based in Sri Lanka as from August 2021. It is run by a committee headed by David Rasiah, Nishantha Abeywardene and Sriomal De Silva. FOMH has raised substantial funds through Ride4Ceylon to revive and restore Green Memorial Hospital and make it a proper hospital.
Prof Rajendra Surenthirakumar (Dean of Jaffna Medical Faculty of the University of Jaffna) who was founding President of IMS is also the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for GMH. He is ably supported by several medical trustees including Dr Coonghe - Senior Lecturer in Community Medicine at the University of Jaffna, Consultant Family Physician Dr Kumaran - Senior Lecturer in Family Medicine at University of Jaffna, Dr Premakrishna, a senior Consultant Anaesthetist at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, D Mathivaananan - Consultant General Surgeon at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Dr Kandeepan - Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Jaffna Teaching Hospital and a former Medical Director of Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Dr Nachinarkinian. IMS Trust is registered as a not-for-profit entity in Sri Lanka.
The charitable services we provide are mostly free or provided at minimal cost and available to anybody in need, irrespective of any social divisions they may belong to.
In the last decade, Green Memorial Hospital has been transformed beyond recognition, and provides a valuable service to the people of Jaffna. The Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India (JDCSI), in providing the land lease together with the buildings that FOMH renovated to bring into clinical use, with their far-sighted vision, Ride4Ceylon who have raised funds for FOMH and IMS who provide the clinical services, can all indeed be enormously proud of this great achievement.
The tripartite partnership of JDCSI with the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and the fund raiser charity in Sri Lanka - Ride4Ceylon all working together demonstrates ‘Par excellence’ at Green Memorial Hospital, that when people of every persuasion, creed and culture come together in common endeavour, the final product is far greater than the sum of its parts.
The Trustees of FOMH, IMS and Ride4Ceylon receive no remuneration and provide their time and expertise voluntarily.
FOMH, Ride4Ceylon and the Institute of Medical Sciences are three co-equal charities working to preserve a great Ceylonese Heritage founded by Dr Samuel Green in 1847 at Manipay.
Prof Jayantha Arnold MBBS, FRCP (London) and Mr Anandan Arnold FCCA, PG Dip Oxford
Trustees - Friends of Manipay Hospital Registered UK charity.