COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, July, 2009 – The Sri Lankan government is keen on various stimulus initiatives to drive economic growth. An outline of the same was presented at a government stimulus workshop hosted last week by ICTA in association with Intel.

Currently in Sri Lanka, the growth and development of communication and informatics, particularly in the field of ICT, is one of the most important drivers of national development. Apart from its contributions to production and economics, ICT also plays a strong role as an enabler of social and cultural changes, including increasing the capacity and quality of the development sector.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Reshan Dewapura, COO / Director, ICTA said, “The ICT industry in Sri Lanka has huge potential. Evidence of this includes the rapid improvement of ICT in the last few years. However other support is required, for example funding to support investment growth, sustainability and competitiveness in the ICT industry.” Mr. Fayaz Hudah, Program Manager - Investment Promotion&Private Sector Development, ICTA outlined the various programs of the agency, highlighting the progress made by Sri Lanka in various sectors in the past few years with the help of ICT.

At the workshop, ICTA discussed four major focus areas for stimulus – employment, education, sustainable power and digital health.

In the backdrop of the global economic slowdown, investment in ICT to further employment is imperative to reduce the impact of such a downturn. The government has taken several steps to improve the situation which include the e-Sri Lanka Development Project. This was further emphasized by the government’s declaration of 2009 as the ‘Year of English and IT’.

From left to right: Mr. Reshan Dewapura, COO / Director, ICTA; Mr. Fayaz Hudah, Program Manager - Investment Promotion&Private Sector Development, ICTA; Mr. Indika de Zoysa, Country Business Manager, Intel EM Limited, Sri Lanka Liaison office and Mr. Navin Shenoy, Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group, General Manager, Intel Asia-Pacific.

Education has long since been recognized as a growth driver and technology is the single biggest tool which can accelerate this. ICTA is undertaking all manner of efforts to revamp the education system. Currently Sri Lankan children have access to computers at a ratio of 1:100 i.e. one PC for every hundred children and the government is working towards making improving this ratio to 1:1. Intel has played a pivotal role in deploying technology amongst students and teachers. The first Classmate PC Lab in Sri Lanka was launched by Intel; 500 CMPCs have been donated as a flagship initiative to support the National Year of English and IT. Apart from this Intel has also hosted training sessions for teachers to educate them on the deployment of technology to enhance learning. Intel® Teach has been launched in various provinces across the nation.

ICTA noted that though they have come a long way, there was still scope to do more. The agency aims at increasing the student PC ownership numbers using devices such as the CMPC, and e-Sri Lanka PC, PC ownership within the teacher community to 60% and the number of computer labs in schools from 3,415 to 6,000.

None of the above would however be possible without putting in place an infrastructure to ensure sustainable power and energy availability. This is where the e-Sri Lanka Development Project comes in again. This multi-donor funded project working on an “Integrated e-Development Model” is based on ICT policy, leadership, and institutional development, ICT Human Resources capacity building, information infrastructure, ICT investment and private sector development, e-Society, re-engineering the government and setting up a Presidential Task Force on IT.

Last but not the least is digital health. The Ministry of Health is undertaking several initiatives to modernize the healthcare system in partnership with ICTA. A Medical Supplies Division (MSD) is to be established with the intention of integrating medicine distribution and inventory control through a supply chain management software. Comprehensive Hospital Management Systems are being put in place to manage the day to day functions of a hospital. A pilot e-consultation project has been implemented at the Negombo Base hospital with 2 e-consultation centers in Marawila and Dankotuwa. This would help patients from the two peripheral areas to consult surgeons or specialists in the base hospital without actually having to travel. Through an Electronic Medical Record system (EMR), consultants could view records of patients from anywhere by logging in to a portal and SMS alerts on appointment changes and other information could be generated to patients. A Health Education Bureau, an interactive forum where resource personals such as doctors and surgeons could communicate directly with one another, is being developed with email and chat facilities and voice conferencing facility being introduced in two phases respectively. And finally, MEDnet (www.mednet.lk) provides all medical professionals and students with the tools, information, and resources they need in order to interact more effectively and stay updated on upcoming events.

Integral to the above efforts are e-governance and broadband penetration. Intel is assisting the Sri Lankan government by setting e-governance standards and adoption of appropriate technologies.

It has been acknowledged that the Internet is capable of transforming lives and the future of a country. Intel will work with Sri Lankan government to undertake various initiatives to increase broadband penetration in the country and deploy WiFi and WiMAX as necessary. Spurring effective broadband deployment will directly contribute to the country’s competitiveness and this rapid technological change will ensure Sri Lanka’s future success.

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