Sri Lanka BUSINESS: Sunday, 4 September 2005 - 5:31 AM SL Time
The new complex of the Ragama National Hospital is facing severe problems with regard to sanitary facilities and other basic necessities of patients who are admitted to the hospital.
Two wards of the complex which are reserved for maternity cases have only one toilet available for the approximately 120 patients who can be accommodated in them. The taps leak and some electricity wires are exposed with no repairs effected since the inception.
According to patients and medical sources four toilets each in the two wards remained closed since February. The toilets are barricaded as they have not been completed.
They said only one toilet is in use and that is the toilet used by the staff.
They said patients have to stand in a queue to answer a call of nature. They also said that before surgery a patient has to be given a bath for which too there is a queue.
They said that before patients are taken for surgery they have to be given an enema on the previous day which is very often given to about four patients at a time. They said that in these circumstances the patients are placed in great inconvenience due to the lack of toilets. In addition patients after surgery have to walk downstairs from the operating theatre to ward 24 to answer a call of nature.
The drainage system is in such a bad state that the walls are damp and leaking. When Mr. H.A.M.P.K. Algama, the managing director of the company which undertook the work at the hospital was contacted he said that though he estimated Rs. 12 million was required at the commencement, unforeseen work had put the cost up. He is now in communication with the Health Ministry to get the tender value enhanced.
Health Ministry Deputy Director General Logistics H.A. Ariyadasa said the Ministry had verbally agreed with Mr. Algama on August 31 that the tender value could be enhanced by 10% to meet the increased cost but that the work has to be expedited as the hospital was in need of the facilities urgently.
Last year 6417 patients were admitted to ward 24 and 5695 patients to ward 25.
This hospital not only serves Gampaha district patients but also patients from Chilaw Puttalam and other districts.
The new complex of the Ragama National Hospital is facing severe problems with regard to sanitary facilities and other basic necessities of patients who are admitted to the hospital.
Two wards of the complex which are reserved for maternity cases have only one toilet available for the approximately 120 patients who can be accommodated in them. The taps leak and some electricity wires are exposed with no repairs effected since the inception.
According to patients and medical sources four toilets each in the two wards remained closed since February. The toilets are barricaded as they have not been completed.
They said only one toilet is in use and that is the toilet used by the staff.
They said patients have to stand in a queue to answer a call of nature. They also said that before surgery a patient has to be given a bath for which too there is a queue.
They said that before patients are taken for surgery they have to be given an enema on the previous day which is very often given to about four patients at a time. They said that in these circumstances the patients are placed in great inconvenience due to the lack of toilets. In addition patients after surgery have to walk downstairs from the operating theatre to ward 24 to answer a call of nature.
The drainage system is in such a bad state that the walls are damp and leaking. When Mr. H.A.M.P.K. Algama, the managing director of the company which undertook the work at the hospital was contacted he said that though he estimated Rs. 12 million was required at the commencement, unforeseen work had put the cost up. He is now in communication with the Health Ministry to get the tender value enhanced.
Health Ministry Deputy Director General Logistics H.A. Ariyadasa said the Ministry had verbally agreed with Mr. Algama on August 31 that the tender value could be enhanced by 10% to meet the increased cost but that the work has to be expedited as the hospital was in need of the facilities urgently.
Last year 6417 patients were admitted to ward 24 and 5695 patients to ward 25.
This hospital not only serves Gampaha district patients but also patients from Chilaw Puttalam and other districts.
