Safe hands of Pears embrace the children of Welikanda

Pears, the most experienced baby toiletries brand in Sri Lanka handed over the renovated and refurbished maternity and children's ward of the Welikanda Hospital to medical authorities recently, again confirming its commitment to the needy children of this country. The renovation was carried out as the 18th "Pears Safe Hands" project; spending more than Rs. 3 million.

In addition to the renovation of wards and installation of much needed child-care equipment , a new children's play area has been constructed and a complete face-lift has been given to the children's section showing the efficiency of public - private partnerships that generate social wealth.

The Chief Medical Officer of Welikanda Hospital, Dr. Pradeep Mendis highlighted "this is the only hospital in this area that serves a large number of people. The children's ward of our hospital had many shortages. With the support of Pears it has now become a fully fledged, well equipped child-care unit." He also stated that it is important to take care of both physical and psychological needs of a sick child to ensure his/her complete recovery and with the assistance of Pears, the hospital has received adequate facilities to attend to all of these requirements.

"We believe that small progressive actions can make a big difference in the society we operate in," said Mrs. Ramani Samarasundera, Director - Personal Care, Unilever Sri Lanka. "With this strong conviction, we have continued this journey for nearly 10 years and the hospitals we have renovated have touched the lives of more than 02 million Sri Lankan kids. Mrs. Samarasundera further emphasised that, although Unilever Pears initiated this hospital development project, the entire nation has contributed towards this initiative, as this is a self-funded programme where a certain contribution is channeled to the fund from every Pears item that is sold.

The handing-over ceremony was conducted with the participation of villagers, Ven Thero of Welikanda Temple, Chairman - Provincial Council, Commander of the Security Forces in the East, Major General Lal Perera and Mr. Nilantha Swaris Activation Manager, Unilever and