Seychelles and Sri Lanka to explore medical tourism |24 March 2014
Sri Lanka is a vibrant, peaceful and popular tourist destination with several thousands of tourists visiting the island every year.
The island is currently offering its expertise to Seychelles in such fields as education, maritime, legal and agriculture, to name a few. Business opportunities between the two countries are burgeoning especially after the recently held Seychelles-Sri Lanka business forum organised by the Seychelles Investment Board.
But Sri Lanka sure has more to offer us and medical tourism is a field which is yet to be fully explored. The island boasts various world-class hospitals, located in the capital Colombo, that have the most advanced technology in health care to ensure patients benefit from accurate diagnosis and treatments. They provide medical services of very high standard where doctors are continuously upgrading their skills and knowledge. Many international patients put their confidence in Sri Lankan health care and so can Seychellois too.
Nowadays it is very convenient and cheap to travel to Sri Lanka via Mihin Lanka airline which operates two direct flights per week to here. In less than four hours a passenger is in Colombo!
Lanka, Central, Durdans and Nawaloka were the hospitals that a group of media personnel from Seychelles visited recently to see what they have to offer. They all accept foreign patients and also provide accommodation to accompanying relatives or friends.
Central Hospital
A poster from Central Hospital on breast cancer
Central Hospital, a member of the Asiri Group of Hospitals, opened its doors in April 2010 and is a 13-storey, 264-bed building which has been designed to exemplify modernity and patient-friendly surroundings including luxury and comfort. The Central Hospital specialises in neuro-sciences and is equipped with the latest medical facilities which can cater to any emergency in that field.
The hospital possesses 12 ultra-modern operating theatres for neurosurgery, maternity, orthopedics, ophthalmology and genitourinary. It also has a haemodialysis unit and has in-house medical officers, qualified nurses and skilled paramedical staff. Consultants visit the hospital to treat in and out patients. Central Hospital has received International Organisation for Standardisation Certification and provides accommodation for accompanied patients. Email: info@asiri.lk
Nawaloka Hospital
Poster showing the world’s fastest and most
accurate CT scanner – the first in South Asia at Nawaloka Hospitals
It’s all about ‘healing with feeling’ at Nawaloka Hospital. Centred on the age-old ‘health is indispensable’ concept, the Nawaloka is founded on key principles which include absolute care, a customer-centric approach, technology for the times and a culture that maintains medical best practices at all times. Nawaloka Hospital, which is a fully-fledged private hospital since 1985, started with a three-storey building with 100 beds but today it is a 400-bed facility. The hospital continuously upgrades to meet new trends in the latest medical science and technology. It has resident surgeons or those on call 24hrs a day; has the world’s fastest and most accurate CT scanner – the first in South Asia. The hospital has performed 10,000 successful open heart surgeries from 1994 to 2014. Nawaloka also offers accommodation to accompanied patients and has facilities to operate 14 theatres simultaneously; is conveniently located with its emergency facilities boasting eight ambulances. It also offers continuous training and strives to bring the best of health to Sri Lanka. Website: www.nawaloka.com
Durdans Hospital
Outside view of Durdans Hospital
Durdans is all about ‘CARING’. It is the first of its kind in private healthcare and the second to be established in Sri Lanka. International patients arriving at the hospital are helped through the entire process – from admission to discharge – by a coordinator who pays individual attention to all requirements. The international patient coordinator will guarantee that you receive all the required details, providing information on accommodation and transport, ensuring you have a pleasant experience with them. All rooms have been specially designed to provide superior comfort with relaxing ambience and additional facilities for patients’ comfort. The hospital’s Sixth Lane Wing theatre complex comprises five new specialised theatres equipped with cutting edge technology for general, obstetric, genitourinary, orthopaedic and laparoscopic surgeries.
Since 1945, generations of Sri Lankans have been cared for by Durdans Hospital. Its story begins at the start of World War II in the then British colony of Ceylon. A military hospital serving British military personnel would eventually become Durdans Hospital, sited where the present hospital now stands. In 1945, a group of doctors recognised an opportunity to develop the fledgling healthcare sector as a private enterprise, and took over the former military hospital to establish Ceylon Hospitals Limited. A special focus was given to maternity care from 1968 when Durdans opened its first maternity care facility as well as an outpatient facility.
The hospital gradually offered more services and a modernisation and remodelling programme was initiated. In 1997 a strategic alliance was formed with a regional centre of excellence in cardiology. The Durdans Heart Centre was opened in 1999, bringing unmatched and dedicated cardiac care to patients for the first time in Sri Lanka. Durdans is now considered the foremost tertiary medical institution in the country. Website: www.durdans.com
Lanka Hospitals
Ambulances at Lanka Hospitals
A guided tour round Lanka Hospitals by Dr Prasad Medawatte, a senior medical officer there who practiced in Seychelles before, revealed that there are Seychellois nationals who have already been treated at that hospital.
“Here at Lanka Hospitals we put all your fears to rest with our state-of-the-art equipment, world class medical expertise and unmatched level of patient care. We will go the extra mile for you because we care. We are the most cost-effective city hospital in Sri Lanka and we at Lanka Hospitals offer you a range health packages suited to every medical need.”
These are just some of the gimmicks that Lanka Hospitals uses to advertise its services and medical facilities.
The hospital provides highest standard of clinical skills and nursing across a wide range of specialties in association with leading specialist doctors and surgeons and from across Sri Lanka and the world. The services offered at the hospital are on par with international standards catering to a range of health related ailments. Doctors and nurses are on call 24hrs a day, seven days a week. Lanka Hospitals is also equipped with a helipad situated on the rooftop if patients need to be airlifted. Apart from the regular medical services offered, Lanka Hospitals also has a cosmetic clinic where services like breast reduction; breast uplift; tummy tuck; liposuction; abdomen, knee, hip, thigh and arm reduction; thigh and body lift; upper eyelid lift; face lift; neck lift; brow lift; eye-bag removal; nose reshaping; natural facial fillers; male breast reduction and hair transplant using a stereo microscope. Lanka Hospitals’ plastic surgeons are affiliated to reputed international medical organisations. Website: www.lankahospitals.com
All travel arrangements comprising flight, airport and other logistics for the familiarisation trips to Sri Lanka were smoothly conducted by Sandy Keller, general manager of Vision Voyages Pty. Ltd, the general sales agent for Sri Lankan Airlines/Mihin Lanka based in the Ebrahim Building, Francis Rachel Street PO Box 708, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles. Tel Nos: Office + 248 2 4 224516/518 Mobile +248 2 789344
Email: sandyk@mihinlanka.com/sandy.kellar@yahoo.com.