SLN Medical Contingent to Nepal felicitated
 
 

His Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe felicitated the Sri Lankan relief contingent to Nepal at a ceremony held at the Temple Trees on 18^th May 2015. The 14-member Sri Lanka Navy medical contingent, who was part of the emergency relief mission to earthquake-hit Nepal, also received letters of appreciation at the felicitation ceremony. In a symbolic gesture, the President presented a special plaque to the Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera in recognition of the exceptional services rendered by the Navy during the humanitarian mission.

The SLN medical contingent returned to the island on 11th May after the successful completion of their first ever overseas relief mission. They had provided medical treatment to over 1,000 Nepalese persons, who had been faced with a severe shortage of professionally qualified medical personnel and equipment due to the massive damages caused to public transportation and the continuous earth tremors that had cut off access to many areas.

The contingent under a medical officer included a Public Health Inspector, a medical technician and a sailor qualified in life saving. They flew to Nepal on a special Sri Lankan airline flight on 29th April in order to render assistance to the earthquake relief operations in Kathmandu. During their 12-day relief mission, they had been able to share their expertise in disaster response and emergency medical aid with the fellow SL forces personnel deployed to Nepal in the immediate aftermath of its devastating 25^th April earthquake, which had claimed over 8,000 lives and injured over 17,000 people.