Dr Tushara Wickramanayaka (Tush Wick), a Sri Lankan born General Practitioner working in Milton Keynes, today (3 Feb 2006) collected a cheque for £10,000 from Mayor of Barnet, Andreas Tambourides. At a special presentation ceremony hosted by Barnet Council, Dr Wick outlined her plans for building a children's hospital in Kalutara, Sri Lanka. The event was a culmination of Barnet's year long fund-raising drive for the Tsunami appeal.

Among those attending Friday's presentation were the Mayor and Mayoress Andreas Tambourides of Barnet, Councillor Victor Lyon, Councillor Agnes Slocombe, Councillor Ansuya Sodha, a representative from the High Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr Waheed from the High Commission of the Maldives, ladies from the Sangham Centre in Burnt Oak, the Barnet Asian Women's Association and Dr Tush Wick and her husband Gary Cutter among others.

Dr Wick's project, which started after the Tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004, will commence building next month. "After witnessing the tragic events following the Tsunami earthquake" explained Dr Wick, "we wanted to actively participate in the long-term reconstruction efforts of Sri Lanka. An estimated 44,000 died from the tidal wave in Sri Lanka. Nearly 20,000 of them are children. Over a million left homeless and thousands of children orphaned. We knew our lives would not be complete unless we helped them"

After visiting her family in the Kalutara area just after the Tsunami struck, Dr Wick returned to England determined to something. She sold her Mercedes Benz and with the £17,000 proceeds helped to set up The Children's Hospital Tsunami Appeal Fund (CHTAF). To date, the charity has raised just over £100,000.

ABOUT CHTAF

CHTAF is the smallest registered charity that has, to date, undertaken the largest project in tsunami stricken Sri Lanka. It is committed and dedicated to the relief of sickness and the preservation of health among children in Sri Lanka. The plan is to build a modern 300-bed hospital with ancillary facilities built on 3 acres within the grounds of the existing hospital at Kalutara.

The hospital will provide counselling and psychological support for the victims of tsunami and other children of the region. It will focus on orthopaedics and rehabilitation for the victims of tsunami and civil war (amputees, etc.) and will provide general medical care for all future generations of Sri Lanka. It is estimated that patient numbers will increase by five fold with extended area of referral across Southeast coast of Sri Lanka -an estimated 100,000 children will be seen in the Accident and Emergency Department and 75,000 in the Out-Patient Department.

Dr Wick thanked Barnet Council and highlighted that an "entire generation is missing in Sri Lanka". Among those lost were two children from the Holly Park School in Barnet. The monies collected by the borough will go towards the £3.25million required to complete the project.

Those wishing to donate funds should visit www.chtaf.org

	MAYOR OF BARNET 'S RECEPTION
	Click for larger image Mayor of Barnet - Andres Tambourides	Click for larger image The Mayor & Mayoress with the Barnet Asian Women's Association
	Click for larger image Gary Cutter & Dr Tush Wick	Click for larger image The Mayor and Mayoress with ladies from the Sangam Centre, Burnt Oak
	Click for larger image L-R: Councillor Ansuya Sodh, Mayor Andreas Tambourides and Dr Tush Wick	Click for larger image Dr Tush Wick, Mayor Andreas Tambourides and Civic Project Manager, Pauline Varnals.

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