Tuesday Jan 13, 2026
Tuesday Jan 13, 2026
Tuesday, 13 January 2026 03:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Text and pictures by P.D. De Silva
A state-of-the-art Philips Azurion 3M12 angiography machine donated by the Heart Clinic Foundation of Zurich, Switzerland was officially handed to the Cardiology unit of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital on Thursday (27) morning.
This high-performance Image Guided Therapy System which is valued at over Rs. 200 million allows interventional teams to perform routine and challenging cardiac interventions by injecting a contrast dye into the bloodstream of the patient, usually through a catheter, enabling accurate diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and help patients avoid open-heart surgery.
The Cardiology unit at Karapitiya Teaching Hospital serves the 2.7 million population in the Southern Province and even serves those living in the Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces, With the introduction of the new Cardiac Catheterisation laboratory, (the second at Karapitiya) the long wait for patients to receive treatment will be eliminated to some extent.
Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa addressing the distinguished gathering said that this high-value medical system marks one of the most significant international contributions to cardiac care in Sri Lanka in recent years. He said that the Health Ministry paid Rs. 55 million as customs duty and the Karapitiya Hospital had invested approximately Rs. 25 million to provide the necessary infrastructure facilities to house the unit.
The Minister also disclosed that even though there are 15 angiography machines in Government hospitals, only around eight are operational at any given time. He added that Karapitiya is now the only hospital outside Colombo that can boast of having two operational Cath labs. “This donation will help reduce the waiting list to about one year and will save many lives.” he reiterated.
Dr. Jayatissa pointed out that of late, people were reluctant to undergo open-heart surgery, resulting in a waiting period of nearly three years. He also revealed that the Ministry hopes to acquire 11 more angiography machines next year.
Prof. Jurg Gruenenfelder, of the Heart Clinic Foundation, said that when he visited the hospital three years ago, Director Dr. Udesh Ranga mentioned of the difficulty the hospital was facing which prompted the foundation to raise funds to purchase and send the machine to Sri Lanka.
Dr. Ranga said that an additional angiography machine had been one of the hospital’s key requirements and treatment capacity will be doubled with the new addition. He also thanked Ambassador of Switzerland to Sri Lanka and Maldives Dr. Siri Walt and Hui Bandaranayake for their involvement in making the donation possible
Prof. Christophe Wyss, Heinz Pauli, and Prof. Patric Biaggi, Rudolf Gauhi, Mark Dangel and Dr. Nilayani Vamadewa of the Heart Clinic Foundation, Dr. Anil Jasinghe Secretary of the Health Ministry, Galle district MP Dr. Nishantha Samaraweera, medical professionals, invitees and staff of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital were present at the ceremony.
