About Us

Diabetes Assocition of Sri Lanka & the National Diabetes Centre

The Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka (DASL) is a non-profit organization registered in Parliament by Act No 1 of 1992, Ministry of Social Services and Finance, which grants tax free status to any donor.

The headquarters and clinical arm of the DASL, the National Diabetes Centre [NDC] was established at 50, Sarana Mawatha, Rajagiriya in 1995. NDC provides clinical services, ISO accredited laboratory facilities, education awareness screening [EAS], research and promotion of advocacy to persons living with and at risk of diabetes and the general public.

The DASL provides economically challenged Type 1 young persons with diabetes [YPLWT1D] with all medical and psychological needs free of charge through the Insulin Bank. National Registry for Persons with Type 1 Diabetes is documented and maintained at the DASL where there are over 702 registrants at present and over 260 are regular attendees.

DASL is one of 220 member associations affiliated to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and housed the South East Asia regional office (1 of 7 regions) from 2003 to 2010.

Biography

Dr Mahen Wijesuriya’s lived experience as a person living with diabetes and heart disease fueled his passion to work as a volunteer in Diabetes and NCDs. As a Fellow of both Royal College of Physicians [ Lond] and Ceylon College of Physicians, he pioneered the formation of the Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka in 1984 and the Non Communicable Diseases Alliance in 2016. He works tirelessly to improve lives of persons living with chronic illness by focusing on prevention through education, increased awareness and screening. He was instrumental in many global and national advocacy efforts namely Global Consensus on Aetiology of Type 2 Diabetes and Primary Prevention Strategy in 2002 which was hosted by DASL in Sri Lanka, the IDF UNR implementation strategy for prevention the “Kathmandu Declaration” in 2008 in Nepal. He was the primary investigator of “Diabrisk-sl” which is an evidence based a translational low costs, non- pharmacological lifestyle modification prevention tool and created an innovative awareness campaign #1every6seconds which is the basis of the IDF Framework on Sugar 2015. Read More..