Kandy Teaching Hospital gets status of ‘National Hospital'
The 2,500-bed hospital serves patients from seven of the nine provinces and about 60 per cent of the country’s population
The Kandy Teaching Hospital has joined the exclusive ranks of ‘ National Hospitals’ – just the second to be declared as such in the country after the National Hospital of Colombo.
A veritable lifeline to a large catchment area, the 2,500-bed newly- declared National Hospital of Kandy serves patients not only from the Central Province but also from Sabaragamuwa, Uva, North Central Province, North Western Province, Northern Province and Eastern Province. This amounts to seven of the nine provinces and about 60 per cent of the country’s population, the Sunday Times learns.
“This is a vindication of the silent service we have been providing for a long time,” said Kandy Hospital Director Dr. Saman Ratnayake, adding that Cabinet approval giving Teaching Hospital to a National Hospital, Director Dr. Ratnayake said it had “crucial” geographic placement as it was a tertiary referral centre for about 60 per cent of the country’s population.
Some of the many plus points are:
While all the major specialities including paediatrics, gynaecology & obstetrics, cardiology, neurology, nephrology, ophthalmology (eye), oncology (cancer), psychiatry are available at the Kandy Hospital, it also has almost all the finer specialties, 69 so far, under one roof. These facilities include treatment for complex orthopaedic conditions, snakebites and those who attempt self-harm, to name a few.
It has the second largest human resource deployment in the curative sector – about 125 Consultants, 1,000 Medical Officers, 2,225 nurses, 70 medical laboratory technicians (MLTs), 70 pharmacists, 35 physiotherapists, 45 radiographers and 45 midwives.
The extensive infrastructure facilities include a bedstrength of 2,500 (the number set to increase to 3,000 with more units coming up); 78 wards; 24 operating theatres; 13 special investigation/treatment units; 11 Intensive Care Units and a large Out-Patient Department and clinics. It is a leading renal care unit, incomparable to any other facility in the country.
It is a well-reputed training centre for undergraduate and post-graduate medical doctors, with about 400 medical students and about 100 post-graduate trainees.
It is a leading training centre for nursing, paramedical and supplementary medicine personnel with about 500 students under supervised training.
It is a leading multi-disciplinary research centre, with collaborations with the Universities of Peradeniya, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Wayamba and the Kandy Nurses Training School.
Dr. Ratnayake says that the Kandy Hospital is also a vibrant centre of patient welfare, with a Cancer Home, Kidney Treatment Concessionary Centre etc., while on the cards for the future are apex centres under the Cardiology JICA Project, a sophisticated Laboratory Complex, a Thalassaemia and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, a Cancer Treatment Centre with all facilities, a Stroke Unit and a Maternity Supercentre.
“We are a reputed hospital trusted by the people around the country,” says Dr. Ratnayake, adding that the challenge in the future will be for all staff across the board, not only to maintain and sustain but also keep reaching the stars with regard to patient treatment and care with transparency, efficiency, efficacy and humanity.