Final journey of a philanthropist

B A Mahipala (1947-2022)

The interment of the ashes of B. A. Mahipala, a well-known philanthropist, took place yesterday, at Homagama, with the participation of his family members, friends and relatives.The Homagama Base Hospital was founded by the philanthropist B. A. Semaneris Appuhamy, back in 1946, who is the father of Mr B A Mahipala. He donated the land, and the purpose-built buildings of the original hospital, to the then Government of Ceylon. A statue of the founder stands at the entrance to the hospital, as a monument to the legacy of this admired son of Sri Lanka.

It was his youngest son B. A. Mahipala who set up the Bamunu Arachchi Foundation, 15 years ago, and began a programme to develop and modernize the hospital, his father built. Mr Mahipala engaged the services of the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau to draw up a Master Plan to develop the Homagama Hospital. He then went on to complete Phase 1, of the Master Plan, in two Stages. Stage 1 of Phase 1 is the new OPD and Diagnostics unit which was opened for the benefit of the public, in 2009. This was followed by Stage 2 of Phase 1, a 300-bed ward complex, consisting of Pediatric, Medical and Surgical wards, opened in 2012.

The development programme continued with Phase 2, a state-of-the-art operating theater complex with four independent operating theater rooms, an Intensive Care Unit and a separate High Dependency Unit. This complex also includes a central stores facility for the whole hospital, which was recognized as an urgent need to securely and efficiently manage the inventory of medicines, consumables and other supplies, in a hospital of this scale.

The total investment in this development programme, at today’s value, is well over Rs 500 million. Mr. Mahipala himself did bulk of the funding. He also tapped into his network of relations and friends to mobilize further funding to provide equipment and apparatus to upgrade the capabilities of the hospital.

Not only did he personally fund this enormous hospital development programme, he was closely involved with the construction, personally engaging with the medical staff to ensure their needs were met, as best possible. He was a regular visitor to the hospital, when he would meet and discuss with the hospital staff and keep a watchful eye on the upkeep of the infrastructure he had provided.

After leading an exemplary life as a successful entrepreneur, a remarkable philanthropist and a devoted family man, Mr. Mahipala departed this life on 25th June 2022, after a brief illness. He was 74 years at the time of his demise.