Hemas to open new hospital with upgraded facilities

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

Adopting new technologies that would uplift the healthcare sector in the country, Hemas’ newest hospital in Thalawathugoda, which is expected to commence operation by May 2013, will feature state-of-the-art facilities.

In addition to its hospitals in Galle and Wattala, the Hemas Hospital in Thalawathogoda, which was built with an investment of Rs. 1.4 billion, is the third medical facility to be added by the group to the healthcare market of Sri Lanka.

A roundtable discussion held earlier this week by Hemas Hospitals highlighted the progress of the soon to be opened Hemas Hospital in Thalawathugoda and it also shared insights into the services and infrastructure that the facility will provide to meet the expectations of patients.

“The management has been very selective of the equipment that is to be used in the new hospital,” Hemas Hospital Thalawathugoda General Manager Dr. Chamila Ariyananda said. Stating that the radiology technology employed in the latest medical facility is the “best available in Sri Lanka,”she affirmed that a number of specialist consultants have already expressed their interest in practicing at the hospital.

From a consultant’s point of view, Hemas Hospitals Group Medical Advisor Dr. Panna Gooneratne, who has over 19 years of experience as a cardiac surgeon and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, highlighted the uniqueness of Hemas Hospitals’ new project.

As the first hospital in the country to adopt an incident reporting system, Dr. Goonerathne noted that the system aims to continuously improve processes of the facility by taking into account incidents reported by nurses and patients.

Furthermore, adding on to its list of firsts, are the isolation rooms in the ICU unit that are of positive and negative pressure. “We have introduced the two rooms to have better control of the spreading of infection,” he said, while stressing on the fact that an infection spreading in an ICU is the last thing a doctor would want.

A linked IT system has also been developed to store documents such as MRI reports for future reference. Providing convenience to the patient as well as the doctor, Dr. Gooneratne stated that the linked system allows reports to be retrieved from any Hemas Hospital at any given time.

Hemas Hospitals is the only hospital chain in Sri Lanka to have an international accreditation with the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards International (ACHSI). Hemas Hospitals Chief Operating Officer Panjan Navaratnam stated: “Our commitment to benchmark with and reaching for international standards of clinical management and clinical governance have provided many unseen benefits to our patients and staff.”

According to him, the accreditation allows Hemas Hospitals to offer specialised medical services that are value for money. With the backing of its excellent patient care record, the management promises that the Hemas Hospital in Thalawathugoda will offer the highest standards of clinical expertise and nursing care across a wide range of specialties.

       Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe