‘Let’s take SL’s healthcare to higher level through leadership, professionalism & efficiency’
New President of the College of Medical Administrators, Dr. Kumara Wickremasinghe proposes meticulous plan to improve patient outcomes
The programme of the evening went like clockwork – amidst a rare downpour in an otherwise searing day of heat – for he is well-known for precision and efficiency.
This was also his promise on March 22 as he took on the stewardship of the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka – ‘Transforming Healthcare: Fostering Leadership, Professionalism and Efficiency’.
“It is the best and right time to strengthen the transformation of healthcare by managing ‘change’ professionally led by the medical administrators in the upcoming years,” said Dr. Kumara Wickremasinghe who is known for his abilities in running a tight ship as Deputy Director General of Health Services & Director of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL).
His career has taken him to the Directorseat of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) for Children and Castle Street Hospital for Women, before which he was acting Director of the Leprosy Control Programme; Medical Superintendent of the Moneragala Base Hospital; and was part of the Malaria Control Programme.
Questioning what transforming healthcare means, Dr. Wickremasinghe asks whether it is just a change, is it evolving or is it something else. He answers with conviction that it refers to the process of implementing significant changes, innovations and advancements within the healthcare system to improve patient outcomes, increase efficiency, enhance accessibility and reduce costs. Healthcare transformation involves various aspects such as technology integration, organizational restructuring,
policy reforms and shifts in healthcare delivery models. “Our responsibility as the college is to guide medical administrators to spearhead this transformation.”
Transformation, he believes, is built on the three pillars of leadership, professionalism and efficiency. Quoting leadership expert Warren Bennis, he says, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality’’. Therefore, as leaders of the healthcare service, “we are bound to lead this transformation”. The way forward is to develop medical administrators as “highly specialized consultants” in fields such as health economics; healthcare policy development and planning; medical procurement; human resource management; research and biostatistics; project management; disaster management; and hospital design and architecture.
Dr. Wickremasinghe goes onto say that with global and local economic problems, health financing has become one of the greatest challenges in the recent past. Financial Risk Protection is mandatory in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and more emphasis needs to be placed not only on equity in resource mobilization but also on initiating Health Financing Reforms. This is where there is a need to foster leadership to achieve UHC targets and transform Sri Lanka’s healthcare.
Moving onto professionalism, he reiterates that it is of “utmost” importance in transforming healthcare. Defined as the “high standard that you expect from a person who is well-trained in a particular job”, these standards are not only categorized as
technical knowledge but also as developing soft skills and attitudes. The college is already in the process of improving professionalism among its members in many ways including the ‘Lead the way’ programme. This fosters professional development through effective communication, teamwork, critical thinking, ethical practice and humaneness.
Referring to the third pillar of efficiency, Dr. Wickremasinghe said that the country is in a resource-limited environment which brings about constraints in physical, human and technological resources. These, in turn, affect the effective delivery of healthcare. As such, a key concernin transforming healthcare is achieving efficiency.
He pointed out that the guidance of medical administrators in focusing on ‘allocative efficiency’ through the distribution of goods and services in an equitable manner and providing leadership to avoid maldistribution is important. Here automation in work processes and integration of digital health solutions would be the key to reducing duplication in ordering investigations and prescribing drugs.
“Networking of facilities and a patient referral system integrated with the National Electronic Health Records will improve efficiency and facilitate rational decision-making. Data-driven decision-making in management is the need of these times to utilize our resources efficiently. This would improve our allocative efficiency and significantly increase our productive efficiency as well,” he pointed out.
He added that Sri Lanka’s healthcare system has made commendable strides in delivering services efficiently. However, there is ample opportunity for further enhancement to reach its fullest potential.“We have the foundation and potential to reach greater heights. Every government spends a significant portion of the National Budget on the health sector and with our dedicated medical administrators with their competent teams, transforming healthcare is not a dream but an achievable reality. Our success is the success of the country.
Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., who said,“Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change”, Dr.Wickremasinghe urged his colleagues to help him transform Sri Lanka’s healthcare through leadership, professionalism and efficiency.