Army constructs 1,200-bed hospital in Seeduwa for COVID-19 patients

Monday, 10 May 2021 01:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Construction of a 1,200-bed hospital with all state-of-the-art health facilities by Sri Lanka Army in Seeduwa for the benefit of the COVID patients is nearing completion.

The Army-improvised COVID-19 hospital in Seeduwa, constructed with the support of Brandix Green Plant and Army Seva Vanitha Unit is the first-ever biggest COVID-19 hospital in the country.

Army Commander and National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Head Gen. Shavendra Silva on Saturday together with several senior officers of relevance to the project undertook an inspection tour of the facility.

“We expect to open this state-of-the art facility centre shortly in Seeduwa with the express objective of giving the best emergency healthcare to affected Sri Lankans free-of-charge,” Gen. Shavendra Silva remarked after observing the final touches of the hospital built within a week by the Army.

The construction work to convert the Brandix Green Plant in Seeduwa to a hospital is being continued 24 hours a day with the full manpower of the Sri Lanka Army.

The Seeduwa new facility is the third such factory handed over by Brandix to combat COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, apart from similar quarantine facilities they made available at their sites in Punani and Rambukkana. This Facility was also the first to receive the international recognition as the world’s first Apparel Manufacturing Facility along with the LEED Platinum certificate.

The hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art health facilities and can be used for other clinical purposes. It is the first hospital in Sri Lanka to have emergency treatment facilities, isolation units, intensive care unit, dispensaries, patient resuscitation units and many more facilities and it was built in a short period of one week.

Commenting on the completion of the hospital for COVID-19 patients in the country, Gen. Shavendra Silva said that the Army has already provided more beds for the capacity of the hospital and the intermediate care centres and also provided beds for the intensive care units.

Out of 86,000 beds in Government hospitals islandwide, about 5,000 beds were used for COVID-19 emergencies and the Army has initially provided around 3,000-3,500 beds as that capacity is not sufficient at present.

“We will primarily have 5,000 beds ready, and the target is to increase it to 10,000 beds around the country within the next couple of days. In this place, isolated medical facilities with separate cubicles and space could cope with 1,200 patients on an emergency basis. The military has already added more beds to the hospital capacity, intermediate care centres and provided even ICU beds, having established the ICUs by the Army itself,” the head of the NOCPCO said.

The Army Commander further stated that the establishment of new hospitals will reduce the congestion in the general hospitals and the Army will ensure that there is no shortage of beds in the hospitals for the infected.