Dear Friends,

As we all know, Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis in modern times caused by a lack of foreign currency to import essential items. We hear of diesel queues and power cuts, but a tragedy that seems to have gone unnoticed is the devastating impact this crisis is having on medical supplies to hospitals. Almost all medical supplies are imported and without foreign currency, hospitals are starved of essential means of saving lives. The long-term solution to this has to come from the government but as a medical charity we cannot ignore the urgent pleas from medical practitioners trying to save dying patients. This is an extremely serious situation; we have a responsibility and we must do something. There have been numerous requests; one that we must address immediately is a request from neonatal consultants for endotracheal tubes (ET tubes) - breathing tubes that will save a new-born babys life when they cannot breathe for themselves. These are single-use items, but as stocks have depleted, doctors have no option but to re-use these. Re-using ET tubes almost inevitably spreads life-threatening infections from one baby to another, but the only alternative would be leaving a new-born baby to die. There are other items in the list like neonatal disposable breathing circuits; we will look into these once we fulfil the immediate request for ET tubes. We plan to purchase the ET tubes here and send these by air to Sri Lanka. We are appealing to everyone to donate whatever they can. Healthcare in Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented crisis. Let us do whatever we can to avoid preventable deaths.

We endeavour to continue to strongly support our family and friends in Sri Lanka. Your help has never been more appreciated.

Best regards,

The Medical Aid to Sri Lanka Committee.