Who We Are

The Children's Heart Project of Sri Lanka is a registered charity approved by the Government of Sri Lanka. It was incorporated in 1993.

Board Members

Dr. P. N. Thenabadu, MD, FRCP, FACC, FCCP - Chairman
Formerly Chief of Cardiology at the Institute of Cardiology of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo. Presently, visiting Cardiologist to Nawaloka, Durdans and Apollo Hospitals, Colombo. Past President of Ceylon College of Physicians.

Mr. N. R. B. Ranasuriya - Director
A former Sri Lankan ambassador to Russia, Mr. Ranasuriya is an attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court. He has served as Chairman and Managing Director of Brooke Bond (Ceylon) Ltd. and Lipton (Ceylon) Ltd., and as a director of the Tea Division at Unilever Ceylon Ltd. and at M.J.F. Group, Colombo. He is also president of the Institute of Personnel Management, Sri Lanka.

Mr. J. S. Mather
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales. Partner of Ernst & Young from 1966 to 2001. Non-Executive Director of Public Quoted as well as Unlisted Companies.

Dr. Vijith Kannangara
A Medical Doctor turned Entrepreneur. He is the founder and Chairman of Q&E, Smart Media and Affno; leading Sri Lankan companies in marketing communications services, annual report production and software engineering respectively.

Mr. S. K. Wickremesinghe
A well-known figure in Sri Lankan business circles. He was also Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in 1995-1999. Before and after this assignment, he chaired the Board of a number of Sri Lankan blue-chip companies including Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Ceylon Tobacco Company, Chemical Industries (Colombo) and SriLankan Airlines. He is presently the Chairman of the National Development Bank.

Mr. Vernon Halpe
Now retired, Mr. Halpe counts many years of experience in the mercantile and banking sectors. The former includes tenures at Harrison and Crosfield Ltd., Associated Battery Manufacturers Ltd., May & Baker Ltd., and the Hotel Ceylon International, where he was credit controller. He has worked for the Eastern Bank, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, European Asian Bank and Deutsche Bank, where he spent 17 years.

Dr. P. A. Gooneratne, MS, FRCS
Presently, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Sri Jayawardenapura General Hospital, a position he has occupied since 1995, Dr. Gooneratne performs around 250 open-heart surgical operations annually. Three-quarters of these operations are on children, including newborns. In 1998, he carried out the first successful arterial switch operation in Sri Lanka on an eight-day-old infant. He also performs around 75 closed-heart surgeries on children annually.

Dr. G. A. C. Amarasena, MS (Colombo), FRCS (London), FRCS (Edinburgh)
Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Cardiothoracic Unit 1 of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Dr. Amarasena is currently the senior consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the Hospital, which is the main State provider of cardiothoracic services to Sri Lankans. He performs adult and paediatric heart surgery as well as thoracic surgery.

Dr. S. R. De Silva, MD, FRCP
Chief Cardiologist at the Institute of Cardiology of the National Hospital of
Sri Lanka in Colombo, Dr. De Silva was previously Senior Cardiologist at the Teaching Hospital, Kandy.

Mr. Sunil Mendis
Mr. Mendis is the former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the former Chairman of Hayleys Limited - one of the large conglomerates in Sri Lanka.