Treating rich and poor alike
Public health sector - now plays a
decisive role:
by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson
Growing from strength to strength,
the government health sector in Sri Lanka has played a
decisive role in saving the lives of millions of citizens;
civilians, children, armed force personnel and
parliamentarians and the elite who sought the services of
the National Hospital, Sri Lanka, the Lady Ridgeway Hospital
(LRH), Borella, The Kandy General (Teaching), Hospital, the
Karapitiya Hospital and other major hospitals around the
country.
 Established way back in 1861 along Hospital Street, Fort,
with a bed strength of only 100, the National Hospital, Sri
Lanka now boasts of a of 3,000, being the largest hospital
in the island having reached incredible accomplishment and
advancements putting Sri Lanka on the map of success.
From its humble beginnings, the National Hospital has now
been given a facelift with an enhanced beautification phase
of professional landscaping which now makes it an even more
"patient - friendly" environment than some of the private
hospitals. Psychologically.
Director, National Hospital, Sri Lanka, Hector
Weerasinghe believes the attributes to almost fifty per cent
cure." The hospital with its new appeal is geared to treat
its citizens of any illness cost free, a feature unique to
Sri Lanka.
Minister of Health, Nimal Siripala who during his tenure
has contributed to the public health sector immensely, be
commended for his interest and assessment of increasing the
expertise especially in the peripheral, as well as
increasing the cadre of medical staff all round, from the
para medics and MLTs to the attendants and minor staff which
has proven the public health sector's medical competence
overall," Dr. Weerasinghe says.
 Looking at the Lady Ridgeway's (LRH) success, the premier
children's hospital in Asia over the years, significant
progress has been made especially in the recent past with
its first successful neonatal Arterial Switch Operation (ASO)
which saved the life of a thirteen-day-old Nipuna of Gampaha
creating another first in the history of Sri Lanka's medical
history giving hopes to many thousands of less fortunate
children suffering from serious cardiothoracic ailments.
The Kandy General (Teaching) Hospital too has played a
supportive role to the fullest to patients in the Central
and North Central provinces as well as to medical students.
Moreover, the Cancer Unit of the Karapitiya Hospital
which was commissioned recently by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa has proved a blessing to the many thousands
suffering from cancer who are unable to travel to Colombo
for treatment with its state-of-the-art technology.
The public health system therefore has no doubt proved to
have improved in leaps and bounds over the past two decades
in particular, attributing to many feats of medical
successes in the entire country due to the dynamism of the
Minister of Health and his long-sighted moves towards a
well-planned national drive for enhancement of public health
in Sri Lanka.
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