Australians donate Rs 520 mn to build Batticaloa hospital emergency service

By Dilanthi Jayamanne

A donation of Rs. 520 million was made by the Trustees of the Foundation Supporting a National Trauma Service in Sri Lanka, Victoria Australia, for the a building of a new emergency accident facility in the Eastern Province. The spokesman for the Health Ministry said yesterday that the facility would be constructed at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital and would tentatively be completed in 2014.

The spokesman said the facility would consist of five floors and two wards with a bed strength of one hundred. It would also have two theatres, CT scan and an Ultra Sound Scan, X-ray rooms and Isolation Units. The post war development in the eastern province – especially the development of roads and the population increase have led to the increase in number of accidents.

The MoU for the construction of the Batticaloa Emergency and Accident Project (BEAP) was signed by the Ministry Secretary, Dr. Nihal Jayatilake, and the Chairman of the Trustees of the Foundation Supporting a National Trauma Service in Sri Lanka, Victoria Australia, Dr. David Young and its National Coordinator Nihal de Ran.

Approximately 80,000 accidents (road traffic, domestic and work related) occur annually in the country. Over 2,000 accidents take place daily. He said the number of accidents taking place on several roads in the country had increased in the recent past- especially due to their development and carpeting. He said that people considered developed roads an open invitation to drive fast.

Accidents had increased on the Colombo –Kandy, Colombo- Galle road, Colombo-Ratnapura – Badulla Road, Colombo- Negombo road, Anuradhapura-Dambulla Kurunegala road, Embilipitiya- Ella- Kurunegala road and the Colombo- Avissawella low level road, he said identifying the roads.

The spokesman said that the necessity to develop the accident services in several other major hospitals was apparent with the development of roads and the time involved in taking or transferring a victim to the NHSL. As a result Emergency, Accident and Neuro Trauma Units were constructed at the Karapitiya, Kurunegala, Kandy Teaching Hospitals while similar units were under construction in Ratnapura and Kegalle hospitals.