President Faure visits specialist hospitals in Colombo |28 February 2017

President Danny Faure visited two hospitals during his first working visit in Sri Lanka, Colombo.

The President’s visit to the specialist medical centres is geared towards further consolidating the strong mutual respect and cooperation between Seychelles and Sri Lanka’s leading healthcare facilities especially for highly specialised medical procedures and services.

The first visit was at Hemas Hospital, where he was welcomed by the chief executive of Hemas Hospital Group, Dr Lakith Peiris. The visit started with a briefing, during which President Faure and his delegation received an overview of the Hemas Hospital chain, outlining its progress in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry with a focus of being recognised as one of Sri Lanka’s leading hospitals driven by the innovation and quality healthcare concept.

During the meeting, President Faure expressed his appreciation on behalf of the people of Seychelles to the Hemas Hospital team, for the care given to all Seychellois who have received treatment there.

The President affirmed that such collaboration through medical tourism is highly beneficial to Seychelles and discussed possibilities of future areas of cooperation such as in the domain of palliative care.

Following the briefing, the presidential delegation toured the hospital facilities and got a chance to meet two Seychellois patients currently undergoing treatment there.

President Faure also visited the Lanka Hospital in Colombo, one of Sri Lanka’s leading private healthcare institutions located in the heart of Sri Lanka where numerous Seychellois have undergone medical treatment.

On arrival, the chairman of the Lanka Hospital and its board of directors invited the President to attend a presentation where he was briefed on the specialised health care facilities accessible to Seychelles citizens at Lanka Hospital.

Lanka Hospital being a health institution which has over the past years built a strong relationship with the Ministry of Health of Seychelles, the visit was also an opportunity for President Faure to view first hand the facilities available at the hospital and discuss with management potential areas for enhanced collaboration for highly specialised care in areas such as cardiology, oncology, paediatrics and women’s health.

“This relationship started quite a number of years ago, but it is clear that in the past three years we have seen an increase in the number of Seychellois coming to Lanka Hospital and I would like to record our appreciation for the care and services that you have provided to our citizens. You are making a difference in terms of their quality of life and we are sincerely grateful,” said President Faure.

During the tour, President Faure also visited a Seychellois patient currently undergoing treatment at the Lanka Hospital.

To note, 199 inpatients and 286 outpatients from Seychelles have been treated at the Hemas Hospital while the number of patients (both inpatients and outpatients and review cases) treated at the Lanka Hospital stands at 899.

Accompanying the President during the visits were the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture Michael Benstrong, secretary of state for Presidential Affairs Aude Labaleine, Chief Presidential Protocol Affairs Jacqueline Moustache-Belle, High Commissioner of Seychelles to Sri Lanka David Pierre, and Deputy Head of Mission High Commission of Seychelles, Conrad Mederic.