|
|
 |
 |
|||
|
A new facility for crisis intervention has been established by the President within the Presidential Secretariat with a mission to coordinate psychological support systems for service personnel and their dependents during acute crisis situations. A press release issued by the Presidential Secretariat states the following specific tasks will be carried out by this facility. 1. Providing psychosocial support to service personnel for coping with disability and disfunction. 2. Providing emotional assistance to the dependents during grief. 3. Providing assistance to the dependents in tracing those who are injured, missing and killed in action. 4. Facilitate administrative procedures related to those killed, injured and missing in action. (i.e. medical and other social security aspects.) This Unit will be working very closely with the Rana Viru Seva Authority (RVSA) of the Ministry of Defense and the relatives of those missing, killed and injured in-action. It will function within the Presidential Secretariat. The Director of the Unit is Dr. Narme Wickremasinghe, (Consultant in Occupational and Aviation Medicine and former Director ("Sahanaya") and a number of psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists in trauma counselling, will be working in this task. Plans are being made to immediately commence programmes for psychosocial support services to be established throughout the country in collaboration with existing, systems in the Armed Services and Police, after a needs assessment in different situations. This facility will also use the service of volunteers who are already trained by various experts in this subject. Dr. Tara de Mel from the Presidential Secretariat, stated that a series of other measures are also being initiated in connection with the welfare of servicemen and their families. A special remembrance day (June 7th) for all service personnel who have been or are in battle has already been declared. Expedition of matters related to housing and for servicemen, salaries and allowances, enlisting the services and support of all the divisional and district secretaries are some of the other areas that are highlighted. Dr. de Mel is also liaising with the Associations of families of servicemen missing and killed in action and expediting the issues raised by them in connection to this problem together with the RVSA. The private sector has also expressed a keen interest in working with the Government in achieving these objectives, in the context of the current problem. A special meeting with representatives form the private sector will be held soon at the Presidential Secretariat, to discuss specific details of how the private sector can be involved in this exercise. Meanwhile, a special committee consisting of parliamentarians is working at the level of each electorate, and attending to the problems related to service personnel. This committee is operating from the Presidential Secretariat.
|
|
Contact Information: Send
mail to