Executive Director’s Message

The Ageing Index which refers to the population over 60 years as against children under 15 years shows a tremendous increase. Sri Lanka’s 1981 census statistics show that for every 100 children under the age of 15 years there were 21 persons over the age of 60 years. The figure of 21 increased to 42 in 2012.

The World Bank and other international aid organisations have emphasised the need for countries to have policies supporting the elderly such as retirement income support and continuous health care. In Sri Lanka, there is an uneven distribution of the older population with 31% residing in the Western Province, 13.1% in the Southern Province and 3.8% in the Central Province while in other provinces the figure is around 5% each. One of the key factors for this has been internal migration across districts. This is a significant challenge which the Government of Sri Lanka should address when formulating national policies on social support systems for ensuring a healthy future for the elderly population.

Sectoral Performance

Eye Hospital

HASL completed 52,000 free cataract surgeries to destitute older citizens at the state-of-the-art, six storey Eye Hospital located in Wellawatte, (Colombo 6) as of May 2024. This milestone event was commemorated in July 2024. By the end of the FY 2024/25, HASL completed 52,249 cataract surgeries.

Mobile Medical Unit – MMU Camps

HASL MMU camps are conducted every week throughout the country following the requests received from the Senior Citizens’ Committees, District Secretariats etc. HASL has two buses facilitating mobile medical camps. Eye and medical care are provided to at least 150 older persons at each camp. HASL has now provided eye and medical care to 500,000 elders island-wide and distributed 250,000 bifocal spectacles since the inception of the programme in 2006. HASL conducted 145 Eye and Medical Camps during the year ending 31 March 2025.

Ayurveda Clinic

The HASL Ayurveda Clinic in Boralesgamuwa provides free indigenous medicine to senior citizens weekly through a qualified Ayurvedic Doctor. At least 40 elders benefit each week. While around 2,000 patients were treated during the year, cumulatively about 32,000 patients received free medicine since the Clinic’s establishment in 2004.

Youth Education Programme (YEP)

Under this programme, awareness programmes are conducted at selected government schools, private schools and international schools around the country to the students to highlight the issues faced by the elderly. These awareness programmes were conducted in 25 schools during the year under review. Further, one Training of Trainers (TOT) programme was conducted in Polonnaruwa for 110 school principals in the Polonnaruwa education zone. The school principals are required to conduct awareness programmes for students in their respective schools.

H. P. Gooneratne HelpAge Elders Day Care Centre (DCC)

The HASL Day Care Centre is located in Ratmalana and has been in operation since 1988 providing care and free meals to needy senior citizens during the day time. They are expected to engage in various recreational and income generating activities to keep them occupied. Around 30 to 35 senior citizens between the age of 55 to 80 years visit the Centre daily.

Home Care Service

HASL has been providing trained home carers to assist needy elders to engage in daily living activities based on the requests received from the clients. HASL provided 1,889 carers to serve senior citizens during the year under review.

Projects

HASL projects are handled by the Programme Division through the foreign donor funded programmes. During the year the following programmes were implemented:

• Advocacy campaign for elders rights, active ageing programmes, training home care volunteers through Senior Citizens’ Committees (SCCs).
• Disaster Response Project supported by HelpAge International’s (HAI) Global Emergency Fund (GEF) and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) to provide urgent needs such as food items, non-food items and disability equipment to those affected by floods, drought, and other disasters.
• Capacity Building Programmes to strengthen SCCs to promote active ageing through the support of HelpAge Deutschland (HAD). This project will continue into FY 2025/26.
• Livelihood projects for SCCs through Sponsor a Grandparent (SAG) Programme of HAI.
• Training programmes through the Strengthening Humanitarian Assessment and Participatory Empowerment (SHAPE) project, India.
• World Health Survey plus (WHS+) programme to conduct an island-wide survey to obtain evidence based data collection initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the University of Colombo.
• In March 2025 the JECO Foundation, Canada provided funds for cataract surgeries – this programme will commence in FY 2025/26.
• The total number of Senior Citizens’ Committees (SCC) registered with HASL stood at 2,013 by the end March 2025 and arrangements are underway to increase this number by establishing more SCCs in areas that have no such committees.

Fundraising – Community Relations

Fundraising is handled by the Community Relations Division which has many subdivisions viz, Greeting Cards, Give the Gift of Sight, Direct Mail, Tills and Special Projects. These divisions carry out various projects and campaigns to raise funds for the services provided by HASL to senior citizens.

Improvements and Renovations

Much needed renovations and improvements were carried out at the HASL Eye Hospital in Wellawatte, Colombo, the Day Care Centre in Ratmalana, the head office building and the new Training Facility Centre in Boralesgamuwa towards the latter part of FY 2024/25.

HASL commenced renovating the existing buildings at the Moratuwa property donated by Walana (Negombo) Lakshmi Niwasa Buddhist Society Limited in March 2025 to establish another Day Care Centre for needy elders.

Appreciation

I was appointed General Manager (Executive Director designate) on 1 January 2025 and assumed duties as the Executive Director on 1 February 2025 succeeding Mr. Samantha Liyanawaduge who retired from active service at the HASL. I extend my best wishes to Mr. Liyanawaduge for a happy retirement.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to HASL Chairman, Deshabandu Tilak de Zoysa and all other members of the Council of Management for the confidence placed in me and for the valuable guidance given.

I wish to thank HelpAge International (HAI) Regional Director, Mr. Eduardo Klien for all the support extended to HASL at all times.

My sincere thanks to all our invaluable donors local and foreign and all the donor agencies for the confidence placed in HASL. If not for their generosity, HASL could not have served the destitute elders successfully for the past so many decades.

I also thank HASL’s bankers, company secretaries, internal auditors, external auditors, printers and all other stakeholders for the support extended and valuable services provided.

Last but not least, HASL’s achievements are due to the unstinted support and dedication of the Heads of Divisions, Managers, Executives and all other staff members at HASL and my thanks are due to them. As we are completing four decades of great service to needy elders in Sri Lanka by the end of the next financial year, the commitment of all HASL staff is expected in the same vein to overcome whatever challenges HASL may face in serving the elders more effectively.