SRI LANKA: Covid-19 patients on ex-transmitter site

Sri Lanka Mirror, Website, Government cancels lease agreement on VoA
Iranawila, Sri Lanka
The gigantic antenna used by the Voice of America to beam their programmes to Asian nations. On the right, buildings converted into a hospital.  
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In order to increase the number of hospital beds, the Government of Sri Lanka has converted the buildings left by the Voice of America in Iranawila, located on the western coast of the island, 70 km north of the capital Colombo. The VOA, the American international broadcaster, after having relocated their equipment to Kuwait and to Greenville (North Carolina), returned the land back to the Sri Lankan State in 2017. The original intention to develop the site as a tourist resort had been shelved due to protests by local residents. In the interim period before developing the area, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed the army commander to use the buildings for Covid-19 patients in March 2020. The new hospital can take in fifty patients and was completed at the beginning of April 2020.

Government delegation inspecting the buildings during work in progress. Sri Lanka, Iranawila
Government delegation inspects the buildings during work in progress. On the left the army commander, Shavendra Silva, the Minister of Health, Paithra Wanniarachi.  In the foreground Anil Jasinghe, Director of Health Services.
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25 years of propaganda

The ex relay station of the Voice of America spans an area of 1.6 km² and includes four large buildings with seven high power transmitters: four 500kW transmitters and three 250 kW transmitters, that currently broadcast programmes of Radio Free Asia.  RFA was set up by the American Congress in Washington DC with the aim to transmit news and information to listeners in Asian countries ‘where complete news was not available, accurate or timely’. In 2014, RFA transmitted in 47 languages, including a large number of local dialects, to about 236.6 million listeners all over the world.

Iranawila, Sri Lanka Relay Site
On a postcard, that Radio Free Asia sent to listeners to encourage them to monitor sound quality, you can see the transmitter towers from another perspective and better understand the size of the buildings transformed into a hospital.
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