RIYADH, 30 March 2008 -- The Kingdom will fund the construction of a 242-bed, 15,000-square-meter epilepsy hospital in the Sri Lankan capital and an extension to a trauma center at the Colombo General Hospital.
"Saudi Arabia will provide a soft loan of SR75 million for the construction ... and a supplementary loan of SR11 million for the extension of the Neuro-Trauma Center at the Colombo General Hospital," Riyadh Al-Kheneini, charge d'affaires of the Saudi mission in Colombo, told Arab News on Friday.
He added that the assistance would be provided through the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).
Yousef Al-Bassam, vice chairman of the SFD, and by P.B. Jayasundera, secretary of the Lankan Ministry of Finance and Planning, signed the deal on Wednesday.
"At present there are no such facilities to treat epilepsy patients and the establishment of the proposed hospital will meet the long felt need of the health service in Sri Lanka," Jayasundera said.
Saudi Arabia provided a loan of SR45 million for the construction of the Neuro-Trauma Center at the Colombo General Hospital in 2002; the construction of the building is nearly completed. The supplementary grant is for the extension of the project, Jayasundera said.
Sri Lanka's new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abdul Ajeed Mohammed Marleen, presented a copy of his credentials to Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
By Mohammed Rasooldeen
© Arab News 2008
