Colombo Sri Lanka (Commonwealth Union)_A long-felt need in the annals of healthcare and the palliative care space in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka opened its very first pediatric palliative care center in the country this week. Created as ‘A Place for Healing’, Suwa Arana, which is completely free of charge for pediatric cancer patients and their families, creates a holistic environment of supportive care, designed to promote physical, emotional, and psychological healing.
Sri Lanka’s incidences of pediatric cancer are significantly high with about one thousand children diagnosed with cancer annually. The only hospital in Sri Lanka with a pediatric oncology unit is the Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama, a suburb of Colombo. Eight out of ten children diagnosed are from low-income families and are unable to afford the cost of transport, medication, or treatment from their homes hundreds of kilometers away. The journey is grueling and the safety and well-being of the sick child are compromised.
The majority of the funding for Suwa Arana came from the membership of the Sri Lanka Medical Association North America Western Region (SLMANA WR), which together with a host of generous donors from across the world collated USD 2.8 Mn to complete the project.
“Most cancers are curable but require prolonged treatment. Given the economic circumstances, there are most often medicine and treatment lapses that can cost these children’s lives,” says Dr. Lasika Seneviratne, who heads SLMANA WR and is a Co-Founder of Suwa Arana. Having had a personal experience of seeing a child eventually succumb to the disease due to a lapse in treatment, Seneviratne who is a Partner of the Los Angeles Cancer Network and Chief of the Division of Oncology of the Good Samaritan Hospital LA stated, “The disease doesn’t simply take a toll on the child’s life, it also takes a toll on the family and their livelihoods.”
Suwa Arana, therefore, creates a warm environment of healing, hope, care, and love surrounded by family in a home away from the home milieu. This was the concept that went into the construction and interiors. Designed in collaboration with healthcare professionals, child life specialists, and pediatric experts to ensure efficiency, functionality, and most importantly healing, the soothing color palette, nature-inspired elements, interactive spaces, personalized touches, and prioritization of safety, hygiene, privacy, and family togetherness in trying times remain priorities in this state-of-the-art facility.
Suwa Arana houses cutting-edge technology and contemporary care services including pain and symptom management, psycho-social support, art and music therapy, end of life and bereavement support created as a haven for both children and their families. Within the six-story facility are four patient floors, which are 32 en-suite family rooms, a rooftop garden, ground-floor dining, a specialized kitchen, and recreation facilities.
The genesis of Suwa Arana began years back when the former Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka was given the news that his younger daughter Indira, a currency trader in the UK was diagnosed with cancer. “She underwent aggressive chemotherapy and was given the all-clear. She then had her first child. But the cancer returned when she was in her second pregnancy. She stopped all treatment then, not wanting to put her unborn baby in harm’s way. By the time the baby was born, the cancer had spread too far. The pain we felt was unimaginable and we made a pact then, to never let any parent go through the pain we went through.”
Thus the Indira Cancer Trust (ICT) was born with a primary focus to create awareness that will reduce cancer cases and deaths, and improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Bringing her experience at the World Health Organisation where she worked for decades before chairing ICT, Indira’s sister Dr. Lanka Dissanayake wanted to fulfill the family’s wish to have a place for healing for children with cancer. In the ideal location just fifty meters from the Apeksha Hospital, Suwa Arana began taking shape in 2021 and was completed just four months behind schedule despite immense challenges including the pandemic, economic and political crises, construction material shortages, currency fluctuations, and galloping inflation.
“The whole idea was to have a holistic approach to care for children faced with an unimaginable amount of pain, uncertainty, and having their childhood snatched away. Parents are truly helpless and Suwa Arana is the support system that gives them strength in their darkest times. We could never have done this without SLMANA WR and our single largest donor Chartered Civil Engineer and President & CEO of Sequoia Consultants LA Priyanga De Silva, who was the backbone in the construction process. The collective of foundations, trusts, service organizations, families, and individuals who gave so generously will ensure Suwa Arana’s sustainability going forward.”
