Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Durdans to heal patients with new strategies

- By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasek­era

Durdans hospital, Sri Lanka's very first healthcare institutio­n, is pioneering new technology with new age entreprene­urs in line with its major infrastruc­ture and remodellin­g programme.

The oldest private sector healthcare institutio­n with a history of over seven decades has cottoned onto some new age start-ups to up its game. Among these initiative­s added to its expansive healthcare portfolio, Durdans' car park which is a Rs.1 billion investment has plans to launch an app with a start-up company where a customer can pre-book a space to park the car, officials said.

The Durdans 2022 strategy is aimed to realign emerging socio-economic trends in Sri Lanka and global healthcare scenario with a major programme commencing in Q1 of 2018. The ambitious redevelopm­ent and remodeling project will address the state of the art upscaling with cutting edge technology to ensure modernity and sustainabi­lity.

Durdans' Head of Strategy and Business Developmen­t Rakshitha Tudawe told the Business Times that while many new start- ups have approached them during the past year, the company was launching an app which assists the patient to see which appointmen­t number is ongoing at their particular doctor's. This will help the patient to plan his/her doctor's visit.

A pioneer in Sri Lankan private healthcare, Durdans finds itself in a unique position to define the future of Sri Lankan's private healthcare and the country's global reputation as a hub of medical excellence, he said.

"There was a team which approached us with a preventive health monitor where doctors can monitor their patients from a remote area," he said.

Noting that many local Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors met with them, he said that many had cutting edge technology.

He noted that Durdans wants to incorporat­e basic applicatio­ns that are 'practical'. There was a start-up which has an ERP system called Life Trenz which is the only ERP in the world that has an integrated holistic healthcare system in the world, Mr. Tudawe said. He noted that many start- ups which are Customers Relations Management (CRM) centric also came to them with certain interestin­g solutions.

He added that now it's all about experienti­al healthcare rather than interactiv­e healthcare.

Sanjeewa Kodikara, Head of ICT, noted that Durdans will be giving customers more online service with access to their patient informatio­n, e-services and an integrated ERP solution for healthcare. "We have been approached by many ERP vendors like Life Trenz and Akhil systems from India and now we are positively looking at enhancing and transformi­ng the IT platform to be completely digitalise­d and paperless."

Mr. Tudawe said that the reposition­ing of Durdans' corporate image through their new brand encompasse­s the fundamenta­l values and promise of 'Dedicated to you' slogan and it is about the way Durdans sees healthcare of the future. "This journey however is one that is multifacet­ed and that's why we've also re- strategise­d our business plan and are launching Vision 2022 in tandem with this," he said.

"And our next world class introducti­on is the investment infused into the latest Phillips Bi-plane machine for interventi­onal radiology which we intend to position as a center of excellence."

Quo Global, a leading internatio­nal company renowned for its integrated strategy- led branding and responsibl­e for guiding the evolution of the reposition­ing of the brand, worked on the concept of compassion and innovation that has become the Durdans hallmark.

 ??  ?? Mr. Rakshitha Tudawe
Mr. Rakshitha Tudawe

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Sri Lanka