A message from Friends of Manipay Hospital UK registered charity, Ride4Ceylon charity and Institute of Medical Sciences, on the occasion of Dr Samuel Green’s 200th Birthday anniversary to be commemorated at JDCSI Cathedral, Vaddukottai on October 10.
Our three charities wish to commemorate the founding of Green Hospital in Manipay in the nineteenth century by Dr Samuel Fisk Green who was born on October 10, 1822 at Green Hill, USA. As a qualified doctor, he arrived in Ceylon on October 6, 1847. We also commemorate the 175th anniversary of Dr Green’s landing in Point Pedro, Ceylon on October 6.
Friends of Manipay Hospital (FOMH) charity was founded in 2005 to revive Green Memorial Hospital from its damaged dilapidated state. The American Ceylon Medical Mission (ACM) in Jaffna began in 1819 and Green Hospital Manipay was started by Dr Samuel Green in 1847 along with a medical school (American Mission Medical School ), the first medical school in Ceylon.
The Colombo Medical School was established 20 years later in 1870 and gradually the Manipay Medical school was wound down and closed but Green Memorial Hospital continued to serve the local community until it became unsustainable during the battle against terrorism in Sri Lanka.
FOMH Trustees together with leading medical clinicians in Jaffna established the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) in 2014 to rescue and revive Green Memorial Hospital which was at the time almost at the point of closure.
The Institute of Medical Sciences became the local delivery partner for FOMH charity and from small beginnings restored clinical services at Green Hospital and runs niche services such as free Family Medicine and Paediatrics as well as in-patient neuro-rehabilitation. IMS provides training for school leavers to become healthcare professionals and at the beginning helped orphanages by taking in children who had to leave orphanages on reaching 18 years of age.
Ride4Ceylon is an entity that was initially started as a brand for fund raising by FOMH in March 2018. It has now organised itself as an independent charity based in Sri Lanka as from August 2021. It is run by a committee headed by David Rasiah, Nishantha Abeywardene and Sriomal De Silva. FOMH has raised substantial funds through ride4ceylon to revive and restore Green Memorial Hospital and make it a proper Hospital.
Prof Rajendra Surenthirakumar (Dean of Jaffna Medical Faculty of the University of Jaffna) who was founding President of IMS is also the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for GMH.
He is supported by several medical Trustees including Dr Coonghe, Senior Lecturer in Community Medicine at the University of Jaffna, Consultant Family Physician Dr Kumaran (Senior Lecturer in Family Medicine at University of Jaffna) , Dr Premakrishna, a senior Consultant Anaesthetist at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, D Mathivaananan, Consultant General Surgeon at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, DR Kandeepan, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Jaffna Teaching Hospital and a former Medical Director of Jaffna Teaching Hospital Dr Nachinarkinian. IMS Trust is registered as a not-for-profit entity in Sri Lanka.