Off the beaten track but on track for a fantastic cause is CDF. BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE.
“Off the beaten track” emphatically encapsulates an ambitious CDF humanitarian project that has minimised time consuming medical aid and transport to patients in the outer regions of Sri Lanka where this service is urgently needed most.
The Cyril Dharmawardena Foundation, (CDF) or it’s mission statement, (Compassion, Dedication, Fulfilment), provide non emergency transport vehicles that ferry patients from the villages and outer areas from the major cities in cases of injury and serious illness. The facility mainly provides non-emergency transport to the sick and impoverished in remote and rural communities in Sri Lanka who have been hampered with modern methods of transport for decades.
Binara Dharmawardena, son of the late Cyril, heads this important interaction between Australia and Sri Lanka which has been ongoing for a decade. It was a dedication he committed himself to in memory of his dad.
The ten year celebration was held in grand style at the Lincoln of Toorak in Melbourne recently at a lavish dinner dance and auction to raise important funds to keep the program ongoing.
Among those present were members of the Royal Flying Doctor Service CEO in Australia Scott Chapman and members of the RFDS.
The night was a tremendous success with several corporate sector companies pitching in to help the project reach their goals.
The Lincoln of Toorak looked resplendent for the event providing a delectable cuisine and the fabulous Replay 6 with Esric Jackson completed a great night of music and entertainment.
A flashback to the primitive methods used before, showed the challenges faced by the locals using crude improvisation for stretches and transport to hospital by bullock cart.
The contrast today, is significant, thanks to this commendable effort, which now sees ambulances and proper mobile stretches in use as vehicles expertly negotiate treacherous terrain with no proper roads most of the time. Hence, the appropriate description, “off the beaten track “.
While the challenges in Sri Lanka is immense and widely recognised and appreciated, the biggest challenges to provide this service from Australia is a mountain to climb and accomplish in comparison, say the organisers.
CDF organises several fund raising projects in Australia to raise required money to send these vehicles to Sri Lanka thanks to the generosity of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia who donate their fleet of vehicles after every upgrade.
The involvement of CDF does not end there as they have to liase with officials in Sri Lanka to provide the service to where it is needed most while providing employment to the locals who work in all aspects of its operation.
The project is fully backed by the Sri Lanka government who is facilitating support mechanisms for its smooth operation.
This effort by CDF is commendable for its aims and objectives apart from the many thousands of patients that have benefited from its time saving services which could have otherwise had dire consequences.
The involvement of the Royal Flying Doctor Service is a blessing and a massive boost to making the project effective through the donation of these vehicles with advice, training and guidance to maximise its smooth operation.
Binara Dharmawardena has visions of taking his third biggest involvement in medical services to Sri Lanka to a much higher level. But to accomplish this, the donations and financial support has to be on a much higher level, he said.
Meeting objectives such as this throws up new challenges which has given birth to plans to expand CDF’s campaign to several other countries and involve Sri Lankan expartiates to jump on board and help drive it to its desired targets.
It’s an ambitious course that must be encouraged to succeed in a country that is very much in need.
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