Lanka Hospitals open first ever branch abroad |20 June 2018

Lanka Hospitals, a Sri Lankan-based medical and specialist centre, officially opened their first branch outside Sri Lanka in Seychelles on Saturday.

It was Health Minister Jean-Paul Adam and the chairman of Lanka Hospitals Dr Sarath Paranavitane who received the honour of ceremoniously cutting the ribbon and unveiling the plaque of the hospital’s new branch here.

Also present for this event were Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon, secretary of state for Foreign Affairs Barry Faure, chief executive of Lanka Hospitals, Dr Prasad Medawatte, officials from the Ministry of Health and other invited guests.

The Lanka Hospitals’ new branch here is located at the ex-SPUP museum on Francis Rachel Street and is the hospital’s first branch to open its doors outside Sri Lanka, since Lanka Hospitals has only one hospital centre in Colombo.

Lanka Hospitals is one of the main hospitals in which the government sends Seychellois for overseas treatment and Dr Paranavitane said this, as well as with the hospital's good relationship with Seychelles, factored into the creation of the branch.

"We thought it would be a good opportunity for us to open a clinic here, and apart from that we have a lot of patients from Seychelles coming to Lanka Hospitals and these patients also need to be followed up."

"It would be more ideal for these patients to receive their follow-ups here instead of travelling back to Sri Lanka," added Dr Paranavitane.

Currently operating with one doctor flown in from Sri Lanka, the clinic offers services including minor surgeries, telemedicine, emergency care and other primary care services such as blood tests, ultrasounds, consultations among others.

The costs of these services are expected to be worked out by Dr Medawatte, the chief executive of the Lanka Hospitals, but Dr Paranavitane insisted that the fees will be on par with other local private general medical facilities.

Minister Adam said discussions for a Lanka Hospitals branch started when he was still minister for foreign affairs and described the finalisation of such a project as "an opportunity of investment between the government and the private sector".

He later told the press that the opening of the Lanka Hospitals branch will now provide Seychellois patients with additional options when it comes to medical care.

"The aim of the government is to, of course, provide the best medical care possible for Seychellois and we do this through the Seychelles Hospital and other health centres in the country," he said.

"But we also have established partnerships with other private medical centres such as Lanka Hospitals hence this new facility provides us with the ability to reinforce our quality of care."

The increased partnership between the Lanka Hospitals and Seychelles is also expected to ease access to specialists who will help Seychelles on a more regular basis.

In relations to the government's overseas treatment plans, Minister Adam said even though the new clinic will have diagnostic capabilities the government will still continue to send patients overseas for specialised care.