SAITM WILL BE STATE-OWNED AS LAST RESORT: RAJITHA

Rs. 600mn loan to build Neville F’do Teaching Hospital

The government will takeover the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) if it fails to resettle the Rs.600 million loan it obtained from Bank of Ceylon (BOC) to construct the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital (NFTH), Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday.

He said SAITM had obtained the loan during the Rajapaksa regime, and that according to the Government Assessor’s valuation, the private medical institute was worth a staggering Rs.3.55 billion. He said the institute would be given ten years to settle the loan with interest.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet news briefing, Minister Senaratne said a Board of Directors appointed in line with the management of Sri Jayewardenepura Teaching Hospital (SJTH) would manage SAITM and NFTH after the takeover.

He said the Cabinet discussed this issue on Tuesday and arrived at several decisions including the takeover of SAITM and NFTH and to manage them like SJTH.

“The NFTH in Malabe was opened in 2013 as a private hospital with 100 rooms and 500 beds. The hospital accommodated some 3, 000 outdoor and 100 inward patients a month, but the numbers have plummeted steeply due to the latest development. This has also affected the clinical training of medical students at SAITM as the number of patients is inadequate,” he said.

Meanwhile, the memo submitted by Minister Senaratne to the Cabinet said: “The NFTH fills the gap in medical facilities available in Colombo East, and it has easy access to patients coming from remote areas in Southern Sri Lanka. It will provide free and paid health services after the takeover.”

Accordingly, the Cabinet will discuss and announce the fate of SAITM and NFTH until the takeover. However, there is a possibility for the two institutions to run as a Private Public Partnership (PPP).