Sri lanka “Sunday Times” 26 April 2020

Dr. Iswara appointed as NYPD’s Honorary Police Surgeon

Dr. Kadirawel Iswara, a Sri Lankan physician, who served as a Lt Colonel in the US Army Reserves during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf, has now been commissioned as an Honorary Police Surgeon with the New York Police Department (NYPD) which currently faces one of its biggest crises battling the deadly coronavirus.

Operation Desert Storm was the codename of the combat phase of the Gulf War in which the United States-led coalition comprising 35 nations launched a war against Iraq over the invasion of Kuwait.

Dr Iswara was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Currently, he is an Attending Gastroenterologist at the Maimonides Medical Center, Division of Gastroenterology, in Brooklyn, New York.

A total of 2,232 NYPD officers have been diagnosed with COVID19, and 24 have died (compared with more than 200,000 positive cases in New York State with 11,500 deaths). The total strength of uniformed police officers is over 36,000.

Meanwhile, eight Sri Lankan physicians, all members of the Sri Lanka Medical Association of North America (SLMANA), have offered their services and advice–gratis–to the Sri Lankan expatriate community.

The eight doctors are: Wije Kottahachchi MD Pediatrics, Rohan Perera MD Cardiology, Trikante Rajapaksa MD Gastroenterology, Ramona Rajapakse MD Gastroenterology, Takshan DeAlwis MD Psychiatry, Aruna Milinda Seneviratne MD Orthopedic Surgery, Darshi Sunderam MD Endocrinology and Gnana Sunderam MD Pulmonology/ Critical Care.

In a message to the expatriate community, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission has alerted the Sri Lankan community in the tri State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that members of SLMANA have generously volunteered to provide medical advice to the community during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We appreciate this kind and generous gesture by members of the SLMANA towards the Sri Lankan community during these trying times,” said Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.