Lanka Hospitals opens country’s first medical reference lab

Thursday, 17 July 2014 01:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka’s leading healthcare service provider, Lanka Hospitals, has launched its revolutionary offering, a Medical Reference Laboratory. The landmark opening of the first-ever such reference laboratory in the country was graced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who presided over to the occasion as the Chief Guest.

With the opening of this new medical reference laboratory Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Lanka Hospitals, fulfils the long felt need for an advanced medical laboratory in the country with cutting edge technology to improve and speed up the process of diagnostics. The inauguration of the Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics Reference Laboratory marks a significant milestone for medical specialists and doctors as a whole.

Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics CEO Dr. Wimal Karandagoda said: “Lanka Hospitals has always been at the forefront of advanced medical health care solutions and opening of the first-ever Medical Reference Laboratory reflects our leadership in introducing pioneering medical technology and concepts.” “Our objective of setting up this advanced testing facility is to provide a complete solution based laboratory. To achieve this, we have looked closely at the standards of all processes commencing from sample collections, transportation of the same, data entry, testing, histopathological examination and on time delivery of laboratory reports. Add to this we have also employed highly skilled staff in order to maintain professionalism at all times to fulfil the above needs.” Dr. Karandagoda said.

“The most important outcome of the new Reference Laboratory is that, we will be in a position to offer over 300 new tests which are not offered by any other laboratory in Sri Lanka thus far. This will eliminate the need for sending samples for testing overseas, thereby significantly reducing the medical expenses currently incurred by a patient. Moreover, we have more than 250 sample collection centre’s island-wide. We are confident that the new Reference Laboratory will offer never before convenience for both doctors and patients,” he added. The state-of-the-art laboratory will have over nine departments such as Haematology, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Flow Cytometry, Cytogenetics, Histopathology, Immunology, Liquid based Cytology and Bio Chemistry. Further, the facility will be manned by trained professionals.

The laboratory will have dedicated and qualified staff for each of these units. The Reference Laboratory performs daily calibration of laboratory instruments, which is generally not a practice by other laboratories in Sri Lanka. Committed to excellence, Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics Reference Laboratory has six Pathologists who will be dedicated to the service of all tests that are carried out in the laboratory. Keeping abreast of advanced medical services in the world, Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics will offer, for the first time in Sri Lanka, the facility for patients to log onto the Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics website and obtain laboratory reports, so that they can avoid visiting the hospital or a sample collection centre to obtain the lab reports. Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics technical partner SRL is the only network of laboratories in India to have 12 Reference Labs, four Centres of Excellence, over 212 network laboratories and a footprint spanning over 1,300 Collection Centres and offering more than 4,000 medical tests routinely. Approved by the Board of Investments in Sri Lanka, the Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics lab will be the only lab to perform all testings as per the highest American quality standard operating procedures which will further strengthen the confidence of doctors and patients. – Pix by Lasantha Kumara