International forum in Colombo to launch a ‘battle’ against kidney disease
Audited fund for intelligent giving and transparent receiving
by Sanath Nanayakkare-December 7, 2016, 7:05 pm
A high-profile international forum will be held at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo on December 19, to finalize the mechanism of a foundation that aims to effectively deal with, and prevent chronic kidney disease in Sri Lanka and worldwide.
The International Society of Nephrology(ISN) based in Brussels will be here to collaborate with Gardiner Foundation, Sri Lanka, led by reputed Sri Lankan business magnate Sanjiv Gardiner who has been assigned the role of ambassador for prevention of CKD, by President Maithripala Sirisena.
The foundation named as ISN-Gardiner Foundation intends to rally global support in terms of funds and resources from donors for renal healthcare needs of patients worldwide. As transparency and integrity are key in this exercise, the Fund is to be audited by KPMG.
"The sad truth is that not all funds and foundations put their money and donor-resources where their mission is,"Chandra Mohotti, Senior Vice President Galle Face Hotel told this journalist.
"The ISN-Gardiner Foundation will make a highly reliable partnership in this effort. Why do I say this? ISN is the worldwide organization of Nephrology based in Brussels. And Sanjiv Gardiner is a reputed business magnate who heads a conglomerate of varied successful business ventures in Sri Lanka and overseas. Sanjiv is the chairman of Galle Face Group which owns and manages a domestic chain of hotels including its iconic 150-year-old Galle Face Hotel in Colombo".
"Taking a globalized view, Gardiner has pondered to give this presidential mission an international perspective, beyond Sri Lanka, to the Asian region or even farther. Gardiner being Sri Lankan President’s ambassador in this exercise, the Fund should gain great credibility. Besides, the managers of the Fund are to follow best practices on a par with other globally trusted funds related to healthcare".
"What’s unique here is, the donations will be redistributed to any country which has people suffering from the disease. For example, if the Foundation gets five dialysis machines, one may go to Bangladesh, two may go to India and the remaining one may be put to use in Sri Lanka. So, this is about fair allocation of both funds and resources received from donors around the world, to CKD victims anywhere in the world.".
"Finally, let me recap it, borderless donors for borderless CKD patients," Mohotti said.
The ISN and the Gardiner Foundation have discussed to appoint KPMG to audit the Fund for obvious reasons. The entire diplomatic community in Colombo will be invited to the event with a view to enlisting their governments’ support to this humanitarian cause. Foreign correspondents of prestigious international news agencies based in Sri Lanka too will be there to give wide coverage to the Forum where President Maithripala Sirisena will be the chief guest.
This is the first time the ISN has partnered with an organization outside of medical related associations for a partnership of this nature.
