NEWS
Harin rejects Tharushi’s Ireland visit
A request by the Institute of Sports Medicine to send Asian Games Gold Medallist Tharushi Karunaratne to Ireland for medical treatment was turndown by the Sports Minister Harin Fernando.
This was revealed by the Sports Minister at a meeting held at the Ministry office with representatives of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL), National Sports Association (NSA), National Selection Committee (NSC), National Sports Council (NSC) and the Institute of Sports Medicine.
In fact, the Institute of Sports Medicine had sought out permission from the Sports Minister and had requested to release funds required for Karunaratne’s medical and other expenses in Ireland.
Karunaratne was set to leave for Ireland along with her brother and a medical doctor and they had requested funds for their travelling, medical and accommodation expenses.
The Sports Minister further said that Karunaratne had never brought notice of her injury either to the Sri Lanka Athletic (SLA) or to the NOCSL.
It was a strange move by the Institute of Sports Medicine to send her to Ireland without making arrangements to send her to a renowned hospital like the Apollo in India or the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
The young athlete had never taken a MRI scan test in Sri Lanka on her injury and the expenses sought by the Institute of Sports Medicine became a questionable issue at the meeting.
It was also brought to the notice that Karunaratne is set to sit for her GCE (A/L) Examination on January 4 and had made arrangements to leave for Ireland in the second week of December.
At the conclusion the Minister directed Karunaratne to undergo a special medical test by a Special Medical Council.
Karunarathna came into the limelight when she clinched the Gold Medal in the Women’s 800m event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in October.
The schoolgirl from A. Rathnayaka Central College, Walala, overcame all odds and a star-studded line-up to finish the race with a time of 2:03.20s.
Tharushi’s success had a great amount of significance as Sri Lanka won an Asian Games Gold Medal after a lapse of 21 years.
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1990 Suwa Seriya, Sri Lanka’s national pre-hospital emergency ambulance service, is ushering in a new era in emergency healthcare through its innovative Connected Ambulance.
Powered by state-of-the-art Mixed Reality and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, this groundbreaking initiative is set to revolutionise the landscape of pre-hospital care emergency medical response, not only in Sri Lanka but also, for the first time, in the Asian region.
Wavenet serves as its core technology partner with the use of Microsoft technologies, bringing this enhanced lifesaving innovation to fruition. Initially, the pilot project will be launched and functional in the western and northern provinces of Sri Lanka; Colombo and Jaffna, respectively.
The latest technological innovation establishes a fully connected platform seamlessly linking the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), Emergency Physician at the Emergency Command and Control Centre (ECCC) with the existing Emergency Dispatch Management system and the rest of the Operations Management systems at 1990 Suwa Seriya.
This integration automates and enhances the efficiency of the emergency healthcare ecosystem by digitising critical processes, ensuring swift response times, while delivering specialised care remotely through the Microsoft HoloLens and Wavenet’s digital healthcare arm Mediwave’s Emergency Response Suite. Equipped with the latest communication equipment, IoMT, and HoloLens AR features, EMTs can remotely connect with the Emergency Physician at the ECCC, monitor vital signs, and provide specialised care even before reaching the hospital, enhancing patient care during the golden hour of medical emergencies.
Medical staff, including EMTs and control room operators, undergo training using AR simulations and technical manuals that incorporate HoloLens smart features. Moreover, the system employs a speech-to-text, AI-powered transcriber by Wavenet’s digital healthcare arm, Mediwave, to digitise Electronic Patient Care Records (ePCR), eliminating delays in Emergency Treatment Units and minimising human error.
1990 Suwa Seriya, Chairman, Dumindra Ratnayaka expressed, “Technology-led initiatives, such as these, contribute to improved expenditure management, enhanced public health indicators, attract foreign investment for the nation, create new and advanced job opportunities, and demonstrate Sri Lanka’s technological prowess, fostering economic growth and innovation.”
“With a fleet of 322 ambulances covering the entire island, 1990 Suwa Seriya, with Wavenet’s digital healthcare arm and Microsoft, achieves a world-class average response time of eleven minutes and thirty-eight seconds for medical emergencies across Sri Lanka, surpassing response times in some developed countries. Daily, we contribute to saving more than 1000 lives, responding to more than 5300 calls, daily. With this enhanced lifesaving technology initiative, we are set to break new ground in pre-hospital care emergency management,” 1990 Suwa Seriya, Chief Executive Officer, Sohan de Silva added.
“We take pride in powering Sri Lanka’s sole pre-hospital emergency ambulance service, 1990 Suwa Seriya. With years of success and continuous innovation, working alongside the best in the healthcare industry, we have elevated emergency healthcare to unprecedented heights through Wavenet’s digital healthcare arm – Mediwave’s Emergency Response Suite. We are at the intersection of Augmented Reality (AR) and AI in the digital healthcare space, and this innovation harnesses the power of collaborative partnerships with the healthcare fraternity’ stated Wavenet’s Chief Executive Officer, Suren Pinto.
Speaking at the launch event, pioneer of the free Ambulance Service, Parliamentarian Harsha de Silva extended his gratitude to the companies, Wavenet and Microsoft for making this technological feat possible.
Addressing the event, Health MInister – Ramesh Pathirana said that he would positively respond to a request by MP de Silva, who had urged to grant the Rs. 10,000/= Living Expenses Allowance to the 1990 Suwa Seriya staff.
