British Deputy High Commissioner Lisa Whanstall has called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to discuss the commencement of the 2nd phase of UK aid programme to Sri Lanka.
Whanstall visited the prime minister at the Temple Trees in Colombo earlier this week, accompanied by a delegation from Fleming Fund of UK Department of Health and Social Care.
She said the healthcare grants programme, which was halted for the last couple of years due to Covid-19 pandemic, will be resumed in January 2024.
Under this grant assistance will be provided to support to generate, share and use antimicrobial resistance data to reduce drug resistance.
It will support public health surveillance to help improve patient health, inform national health policies and warn emerging threats.
The grant programme will be implemented with the assistance of the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization and other agencies. Under this programme training fellowships will be provided to health sector staff.
The Prime minister thanked the United Kingdom for selecting Sri Lanka as a recipient of this health care programme, which will be immensely useful to advance the health system in the country. He pointed out that Sri Lanka health service is based on the British system and there will not be any difficulty in implementing such health care programmes.
British Council’s Country Director Orlando Edwards presented a set of publications on English language training methods of the Council to the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Gunawardena urged the Acting High Commission and the British Council to introduce English Language education to youths in rural areas.
Dr Jessica Wallis and Dr Neha Gulati of UK Fleming Fund, Andrew Price of British High Commission and Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, Deepa Liyanage also took part in the discussion.
