National Nephrology Hospital, Polonnaruwa, handicapped

By Rathindra Kuruwita

There are only two consultant nephrologists attached to the National Nephrology Hospital, Polonnaruwa despite having an approved cadre of 10 consultants with various specialties, Secretary to the GMOA, Dr. Senal Fernando, informed Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardane.

The hospital sitting on a land encompassing 16 acres had been constructed at a cost of Rs. 12 billion, Dr. Fernando said.

“However only 25% of physical resources at the hospital are used due to the shortage of staff. The Hospital has 201 beds yet only 25% of them are in use. The Hemodialysis Unit has 100 beds, but only 30 beds are functioning. These machines are highly sensitive, and it is recommended that one nursing officer is allocated per machine, however, now three machines are maintained by a single Nursing Officer,” he said.

Dr. Fernando added that the National Nephrology Hospital has six operating theatres to perform Kidney Transplants, Vascular Surgeries and Urological procedures. However, none of them are in use because neither a Consultant Vascular Surgeon nor a Urologist had been attached to the institute.

“None of the machines at the laboratories have been used. Warranty period of some equipment has expired. The hospital also needs to have a Director, right now the DGH Polonnaruwa doubles up as the head of the hospital. But this is not working out because he already has so much on his plate. All these are affecting the healthcare received by patients,” he said.

Dr. Fernando added that the GMOA Executive Committee had carefully studied the situation by sending a team there.