Sri Lanka
In July of 2017, the first phase of Swami’s medical mission in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, was inaugurated. It is named the Sri Sathya Sai Karuna Nilayam Medical Center, the “Home of Compassion”. Phase one is the launch of the outpatient services.
The second phase which is currently under construction will be a 75-Bed General Hospital featuring state-of-the-art operation theaters. This hospital will be inaugurated in August 2022, and will feature a number of departments including Dental, Nutrition, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Gynecology and Gastroenterology.
Located 320 Kms from the capital city of Colombo, this area was devastated by the 30-yearlong Sri Lankan civil war. It was also struck by a number of natural disasters including the major Tsunami of 2004 which saw many families lose their homes, their land and their livelihood. Additionally, the war left more than 30,000 war widows behind. Due to all of this and the resulting poverty in the area, medical and social services have been virtually non-existent.
Since August 20, 2017 over 16,000 patients from 27 villages and 3 districts have been seen at the Sri Sathya Sai Karuna Nilayam Outpatient Clinic. As with all of Swami’s facilities, all treatment and medicine are completely free of cost. Since January 14th, 2020 a nutritious hot meal is provided to all our patients and also extend to the elderly (over 65’s) and children every day.
POVERTY ELIMINATION
A new feeding program was initiated in January 2020 to provide nutritious meals for the patients between 10am-2pm during clinic days. As the pandemic put strict restrictions in place, plans were made to bring the hot meals to the doorsteps of the villagers instead. Since May 2020 till February 2021 over 11,000 meals have been lovingly prepared at the Centre by the OPD staff and distributed to all the villagers.
In addition, since September 2015, students of the Dharmapuram School in Batticaloa have been receiving a banana and a glass of milk as nutritional supplement daily, with over 42,000 servings to date. During the years, the foundation has donated playground equipment, stationery, backpacks, shoes and socks to the students as well.
UPLIFTING WOMEN
In March 2020, the Foundation commenced the Women’s Skills training program which aims to teach unprivileged women life skills such as sewing, baking etc to enhance their income potential.
