Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics played a vital part in Anneka Rice's Christmas 2006 TV challenge by donating a shipment of urgently-needed diagnostic testing supplies to tsunami-struck Sri Lanka
Among the relief projects featured in the special Boxing Day edition of 'Challenge Anneka' was the re-building of a maternity unit just south of Colombo which was totally destroyed in the 2004 Asian tsunami.
The company donated urine testing strips that were urgently needed by the new clinic to check for early signs of diabetes and kidney disease in pregnant women to help avoid complications in their pregnancies.
"The aim of the 'Challenge Anneka' programme was to show how the tsunami relief programme in Sri Lanka is not just a quick fix, but a long-term commitment from the local population and aid agencies to help communities recover", says Steve Carey of Siemens Diagnostics near patient testing team.
"We are delighted to have been able to contribute some of the essential supplies needed to get the Magalknda Maternity Clinic up and running again in time for the second anniversary of the tsunami.
"The re-opening of this clinic is helping to empower the local community which has been so badly affected.
"The urine testing strips that we have supplied through 'Challenge Anneka' will enable essential health checks to be made on women during the course of their visits to the new clinic.
"Results are available instantly, enabling immediate steps to be taken to protect both mothers' and babies' health".
Being situated on the coast, just 50 yards from the sea, the Magalknda Maternity Clinic lost all its medical facilities and equipment to the tsunami.
Afterwards, all the doctors, nurses and midwifery staff were dispersed to different clinics, leaving no-one available locally to monitor the health of pregnant women.
Reconstruction of the clinic now means that expectant mothers will no longer have to travel long distances and queue in scorching heat for a consultation with over-stretched medical staff.
