Caring for Northern IDPs, a great opportunity to unite Sri Lanka – Dr Anula Wijesundera

‘The provision of humanitarian services among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of the North provides a great opportunity to build bridges of unity among the communities of Sri Lanka’, Dr. Anula Wijesundera, president, Society for the Upliftment and Conservation of the Cultural, Economic and Social Standards (SUCCESS) and Consultant Physician, Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, told this newspaper in an interview.

’ This enables us in the South to show that we are interested in them and are concerned about their well being. We have been constantly telling these IDPs that we consider all of them citizens of this country and as one Children of Mother Lanka’ the Head of SUCCESS, which is currently engaged in providing medical assistance and material relief to the IDP camps in the North, explained.

She said that ‘definite progress’ had been made by the state in caring for these persons and that this achievement is all the more remarkable when the massive numbers entering these camps are considered. Particularly after the ‘rescue operation’ by the military in mid April, there has been ‘an avalanche’ of such persons in the ‘liberated areas’ seeking relief but the state and social service organizations, such as SUCCESS, are coping well with the influx. Read more ...