Dialog Customers Donate Over Rs. 27 Million via Star Points to ‘Little Hearts’ in 2021

Photographed from left to right: Mahesh Jayawardena - Manusath Derana Project Chairman, Sean Vanderwall – Business Development Manager, Group Loyalty, Dialog Axiata PLC, Ayomal Gunasekera - Senior General Manager, Group Loyalty and Device Business, Dialog Axiata PLC, Dr. Duminda Samarasinghe - Project Coordinator for Little Hearts, and Madhawa Madawala - Chief Operations Officer/ Executive Director of TV Derana

Coming together to support the development of a 12-storey cardiac and critical care complex at Lady Ridgeway Hospital in aid of children with heart diseases and critical illnesses, over 300,000 Dialog customers collectively donated more than Rs. 27 million via Star Points towards the Little Hearts Project in 2021. Since 2016, Dialog customers have donated over Rs.95 Million via Star Points towards the Little Hearts initiative.

Dialog encouraged and enabled over 17 million of its customers to contribute to the project by donating their Star Points to the Little Hearts Project and many other notable charities of their choosing. Little Hearts project is conducted by the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians, and the facility will feature four cardiac theatres, a catheterisation laboratory, over 100 cardiac, medical and neo-natal intensive care beds, a bone marrow transplant unit, and advanced cardiac investigation and training facilities. The construction is estimated to cost over Rs. 2 billion.

Speaking on this occasion, a spokesperson for Dialog Axiata PLC stated “We are thankful to the generous support extended by our customers who stepped forward to raise funds and accelerate the construction of the 12-storey Cardiac and Critical Care Complex at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital by donating their Star Points. We believe that every child battling heart disease deserves the right to the best care and we are grateful for the opportunity to bring everyone together in a show of solidarity towards this worthy cause”.

Dr. Duminda Samarasinghe, project coordinator for Little Hearts also stated “We are grateful to Dialog Axiata for joining hands with the Little Hearts charity and for enabling their customers to choose a national project to donate their Star Points to. We would like to especially thank all Dialog customers who came forward to make this generous donation a possibility as without their support we could not have made a difference in the lives of the children of the nation. Star Points is a clear example of the strength generated via crowdfunding towards enabling a national service that will change the outlook towards healthcare for the future generations of Sri Lanka”.

In addition to the Little Hearts Project, Dialog customers also donated their Star Points to many other notable charities, including Trail, SOS Children's Villages Sri Lanka, HelpAge Sri Lanka, My Friend, UNICEF, Atlas SipSavi, CCC Foundation and Ayati Trust.