Presidential opening for Hemas’ Rs. 1.3 b hospital in Thalawathugoda

By Cheranka Mendis

Hemas Hospitals yesterday opened its third and latest multi-speciality full capability hospital in Thalawathugoda, built with an investment of Rs. 1.3 billion and spanning across 62,000 sq ft.

Officiated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday, the hospital is part of the group’s plan to touch lives of over five million with 10 hospitals in suburban cities by 2020.

Having invested Rs. 4 billion within the past four years since the launch of its first hospital in Wattala, Hemas has delivered on the promise to deliver high quality healthcare and is today recognised as a pioneer in taking private medical care to areas outside the capital city of Colombo.

Currently 50% of the outpatients go to private sector hospitals, Hemas Hospitals Chairman Murtaza Esufally said, noting the growing importance of the role of private sector in the industry. “The role of the private sector in this arena should therefore be considered a friend,” he said, addressing the opening. “The public and private sector should not be looked upon as two devices but as one.”

Noting that a healthy Sri Lanka is a prosperous Sri Lanka, he assured the support of Hemas in realising the health sector goals of the country. Boasting the latest technologies and world-class services, Hemas is the first and only hospital chain in Sri Lanka to have international accreditation which it received from the Australian Council for Healthcare Standards International (ACHSI).

General Manager of the new Hemas Hospital Dr. Chamila Ariyananda told the Daily FT that the hospital was erected in Thalawathugoda due to the high demand from those in the bustling residential and industrial town.

Assuring that the hospital catered to all needs of consumers, she noted that it was a 63 bed (inclusive of ICU cots) multi-speciality general hospital built to international standards, patronised by 200 consultants covering a variety of medical and surgical specialities.

“We have instilled the latest technologies in the operating theatres where we do all surgeries except cardiac and neurosurgery, because we feel that there are enough cardiac and neuro beds available in Colombo right now,” she said. “However we can do all other surgeries including kidney transplants.”

The ICU is one of the best in the country with positive and negative pressure building isolation rooms. “This is done to international guidelines and we can boast that this feature is not available in most other hospitals,” Dr. Ariyananda asserted.

Expressing that the demand in the area was mainly for single rooms which are marketed at an affordable Rs. 7,000, the hospital also offers twin-sharing at Rs. 3,900 per bed, and four ward beds at Rs. 2,900 per day. Yet another key demand was for radiology, which is one of the hospital’s largest investments.

“We also have the latest industrial standard MRI, which is also the only MRI in the area. The hospital also provides CT scanning, ultrasound scanning and digital x-rays.”

Hemas Hospitals’ fully integrated bar-coding inter-phasing laboratory system is also a first-of-its-kind in the country and includes a unique system of integration of the laboratory process, interfacing of analysers with the hospital’s information systems and a new bar-coding system which eliminates errors in entering or documentation of patient details.

The hospital operations have also been fully automated with an IT system that is unparalleled to anything available in Sri Lanka. With 50% of it already in place, the hospital expects to complete the implementation within three weeks.

Ariyananda stated that a few more locations had been identified to build hospitals in the bear future even though there were no fixed plans as yet. “We certainly want to expand our footprint. Recently we acquired a land in Moratuwa for the purpose as well.”

The other two hospitals under Hemas in Wattala and Galle are doing extremely well, she acknowledged.

With an immaculate service record, Wattala has over 13,000 outpatient visits and 900 inpatient visits per month, while in Galle 15,000 outpatient visits and 200 inpatient visits have been recorded per month. In total the company has 213 beds in the three hospitals.